Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is on a plane to The Hague, the country’s leader has said, after being arrested over a “war on drugs” that killed thousands.
The former president was detained early on Tuesday at the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity when he landed in Manila.
Current president Bongbong Marcos Jr, who was elected in 2022, said at a press conference hours after the arrest that Mr Duterte had left the country and was bound for the Netherlands.
“I am confident the arrest was proper, correct and followed all necessary legal procedures,” he said, adding: “We did not help the International Criminal Court in any way.”
Read more: Philippines’ war on drugs
Mr Marcos Jr – who has not re-joined the ICC after Mr Duterte withdrew the Philippines from its founding treaty in 2019 – noted the arrest was made in compliance with Interpol.
Veronica Duterte, the 79-year-old’s youngest daughter, also said on Instagram “the airplane used to kidnap my dad just left minutes ago”, but said the family had not been informed of its destination.
The ICC case centres on thousands of killings that took place during the former leader’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs from 2011, when he was a city mayor, to the end of his presidency in 2022.
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Police say more than 6,200 people were killed in what they describe as shootouts under Mr Duterte’s presidency, from 2016 to 2022,
The prosecutor of the ICC said as many as 30,000 people may have been killed.
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Police or vigilantes working for them, such as gunmen on motorbikes, were alleged to have killed masses of unarmed suspects while he was in charge. Authorities have denied the claims.
According to news agencies, the ICC warrant accuses Mr Duterte of being criminally responsible for the murder of at least 43 people between 2011 and 2019.
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Should the case progress, Mr Duterte would be the first Asian former head of state to stand trial at the ICC.
His team have already declared the arrest unlawful and vowed to fight it.
The former president previously admitted to having a “death squad” of “gangsters” while he served as mayor of the southern city of Davao.
However, he denied authorising police to shoot suspects when he became president.
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The ex-president’s administration also tried to suspend the ICC probe in late 2021, arguing it didn’t have jurisdiction and saying domestic authorities were already looking at the claims.
Judges in The Hague rejected the objections two years ago and said the investigation could continue.
