Ex-Philippines president Duterte demands ICC release, claims unlawful detention
Duterte’s lawyers are challenging The Hague’s jurisdiction and claim the 80-year-old is unfit for trial
Last week, ICC judges ruled that the court had jurisdiction over Duterte’s case, despite his team’s contention that the court did not open a full-fledged investigation into alleged crimes in the Philippines until after the country had withdrawn from the ICC in 2019.
Duterte, president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested and taken to The Hague in March on an arrest warrant that linked him to murders committed during his war on drugs in the Philippines.
During that campaign, thousands of alleged narcotics peddlers and users were killed. Duterte and his lawyers maintain his arrest was unlawful.
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In their notice of appeal, Duterte’s lawyers asked the court to reverse a lower panel’s decision to continue the case and find there is no legal basis for it.