Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in sights of the International Criminal Court

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in sights of the International Criminal Court

Bangkok: The International Criminal Court has bluntly warned Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that he could face prosecution over extrajudicial killings in his deadly crackdown on drugs that has left more than 3600 Filipinos dead since July 1.

The court's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she was "deeply concerned" about thousands of alleged killings in the Philippines and statements by "high officials" who "seem to condone such killings".



"Any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing, in any manner, to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the [court] is potentially liable to prosecution before the court," she said.

The Philippines is a member state of the court in The Hague, which has the authority to prosecute individuals for crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.



Human rights lawyers say comments by Mr Duterte such as "all of you are into drugs, you sons of bitches…I will kill you" could be used as evidence to prosecute him.

Mr Duterte, who is known as the "Punisher" has also said: "My order is to shoot to kill. I don't care about human rights…this is a war against drugs and we have to fight it."

The acid-tongued 71-year-old former mayor of the southern city of Davao was swept into office at elections in May pledging that fish in Manila Bay would grow fat from the bodies of drugs dealers and criminals if he was elected.

Investigations by Fairfax Media and other organisations have revealed evidence of targeted assassinations on the country's streets, where an average of 36 people are being killed every day.

Seven-month pregnant Ruth-Jane Sombrio mourns over her husband Rogie Sebastian's body. The Shabu user was killed by police at home last month.

Click to expand...

Mr Duterte has angrily hit back at those who have criticised his crackdown, including the United States, United Nations and European Union, claiming he has done nothing illegal and that law enforcers have been forced to shoot to kill after suspects put up fights.

He has branded US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore" and UN chief Ban Ki-moon a "fool" over the criticism.

Ms Bensouda said in a statement her office would closely monitor developments in the Philippines in the coming weeks with a view to establishing whether she would open a preliminary investigation.

The court's prosecutors have the power to ask The Hague's judges to authorise an investigation that could lead to an eventual trial.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/philipp...-international-criminal-court-20161014-gs2fmz

I cannot believe this guy is still in power. There is a website that has a bunch of pics from the phillipines that are described as flat out murders of drug users and small time dealers.

Guy is completely insane.

'medicine cabinet' said:

I cannot believe this guy is still in power.

Click to expand...

There's no one to remove him from power except international forces. It seems most of his citizens are either too scared to speak up or too stupid to realize that genocide is wrong. It's a problem with Filipinos in America too--too nationalist to admit that genocide is bad. I know a "liberal" person who recently visited and forgot to mention anything bad---suffice it to say I lost all respect for her fake ass (she also works in medical marijuana, so imo she's a real piece of shit).

President Duterte's sexual abuse a prime driver of his bloody war on drugs

Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs is heavily influenced by the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a Catholic priest, the president of the Philippines said in a remarkable interview with Al Jazeera.

More than 3500 people have been slaughtered by police and vigilante squads since Mr Duterte took office four months ago.

In his first interview since taking office, Mr Duterte was asked if the traumatic childhood experience had shaped his forthright policies and personal views.

"Yes, to a large extent actually," said Mr Duterte. "It is what you get on the way that shapes your character, and even your politics."

"It sort of blends into something which, it can be said forms your own values in life," he added.

Mr Duterte’s rise to power came swiftly on the back of promises to rid the impoverished nation of crime by whatever means necessary.

During the presidential campaign Mr Duterte promised to kill 100,000 criminals within his first six months in office.

In December last year Mr Duterte first made the explosive claims of molestation he and other young boys had suffered at a Jesuit-run school.

"It was a case of fondling … [a priest] did during confession, that’s how we lost our innocence early," Mr Duterte said at the time.

"It was a sort of sexual awakening for each of us," he said.

During the 50-minute interview with Al Jazeera, Mr Duterte expressed little remorse for the killing of children and innocent people in his war on the drugs, calling them "collateral damage".

"We have three million drug addicts, and it's growing," said Mr Duterte.

"So if we do not interdict this problem, the next generation will be having a serious problem ... You destroy my country, I'll kill you. And it's a legitimate thing. If you destroy our young children, I will kill you. That is a very correct statement. There is nothing wrong in trying to preserve the interest of the next generation."

http://www.9news.com.au/world/2016/...is-murderous-war-on-drugs#gCUqe6Sdyv49mxPz.99

I'm sorry that he was molested as a child. I also experienced the same thing from a certain uncle between the ages of 8 to 12, and it has left me forever scarred.

That being said, this piece of shit has so much innocent blood on his hands that he deserves to be executed IMO.

What happened to the hundreds of thousands of people that turned themselfs in???

This guy is mentally I'll and needs to step down from power and turn himself into the international courts.

He gets sexually played with by a pedo catholic priest and this somehow shaped him to get tough on drugs, addicts and dealers? Shouldn't he be going after the church and pedo priests and pedophiles in general?