In a scenario once considered unthinkable for a head of state who presided over the public and brutal killings of thousands of civilians, Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, appeared at an International Criminal Court hearing via a video link on Friday.
Mr. Duterte’s arrest this week on charges of crimes against humanity, which came nearly three years after he left office, is a crucial step for Filipinos who have been seeking justice for their loved ones.
The Filipino authorities arrested Mr. Duterte, 79, on Tuesday at Manila’s main airport after he returned from a trip to Hong Kong, days after the I.C.C. issued an arrest warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity while he was president as well as during his time as the mayor of Davao City.
He was arrested with the help of Interpol, acting on behalf of the I.C.C., because the Philippines is no longer a member of the court.
Mr. Duterte was flown on Wednesday to the Netherlands and was transported to The Hague.
When he ran for president before taking office in 2016, Mr. Duterte vowed to order the police and the military to find drug users and traffickers in order to kill them, promising immunity for those carrying out the orders.
In the first months of Mr. Duterte’s presidency, officers and vigilantes gunned down tens of thousands of people. Some of the victims were minors, and many were not involved in the drug trade, activists say.
Mr. Duterte had long benefited from a culture of impunity. Until Tuesday, he had seemed all but untouchable despite taking public credit for the widespread violence.
Mr. Duterte’s camp said his detention was illegal, arguing that the I.C.C. had no jurisdiction in the Philippines because the country had withdrawn from the court while he was president.
Judges ruled that the court has jurisdiction because it was investigating killings that happened while the Philippines was still a member of the I.C.C.
The prosecution has charged Mr. Duterte with crimes it says occurred between Nov. 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019, when the Philippines officially withdrew from the court.
The Philippines is still a member of Interpol, the international police organization that can seek arrests on behalf of the I.C.C. and which helped arrest Mr. Duterte this week.
But Mr. Duterte may have been more likely to remain out of the court’s reach had it not been for a time of political upheaval in the Philippines.
When Mr. Duterte’s six-year term ended in 2022, he was succeeded by Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the son of a former dictator. Mr. Marcos ran together with Mr. Duterte’s daughter Sara Duterte, the country’s vice president.
That alliance has since fractured, and the two have had a spectacular falling out. Early in his administration, Mr. Marcos had indicated that he would not cooperate with the I.C.C., but in late 2023, his government allowed the court’s investigators to enter the country.
The I.C.C. is facing a big challenge in trying to convict Mr. Duterte. The court has tried — and several times failed — to convict leaders. The former president of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, was acquitted in 2019 for his role in the country’s post-election violence.
To meet the standard of crimes against humanity — the charge that Mr. Duterte is facing — the prosecution must prove that the violent “war on drugs” campaign was part of a criminal plan led by Mr. Duterte and comprised “a widespread and systematic attack” against civilians in the Philippines.
Sara Duterte has called the arrest of her father political oppression, while Mr. Marcos has said he is simply following international convention in complying with the Interpol warrant.
In approving Mr. Duterte’s arrest, Mr. Marcos may be trying to eliminate the Dutertes as a political force without any major backlash. (Ms. Duterte is leading polls for the presidential election in 2028.)
The issue is expected to play a large role in the Philippines’ midterm elections in May, which are seen as a proxy battle between the Marcoses and the Dutertes.
