THE HAGUE: Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte personally drew up “death lists” and boasted about murders committed during his “war on drugs,” an International Criminal Court prosecutor alleged Tuesday at a crimes against humanity hearing.
On day two of proceedings against Duterte, ICC prosecutor Edward Jeremy laid out searing testimony including allegations that children had their heads wrapped in packing tape and strangled to death.
“As president, Duterte publicly named persons he alleged were involved in drugs, and many of those would end up as victims in his so-called war on drugs,” Jeremy said.
The “Duterte list” was “basically a death list,” Jeremy cited a witness as saying, showing a video of Duterte himself saying: “I am the sole person responsible for it all.”
Duterte faces three ICC counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.
Prosecutors say this is a “mere fraction” of the thousands believed killed in his “war on drugs” as mayor of Davao City and then president.
“As witnesses stated, the poor were often targeted, because they were the ones least likely to file complaints against the police,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy played a clip of Duterte joking about “extrajudicial killings” during a speech.
“And in this opulent, gilded, presentation room, the officials laugh along with their president while he boasts about his skills in extrajudicial killing,” said Jeremy.
“And outside on the streets of the Philippines, the bodies pile up.”
Jeremy alleged that almost 1,500 people had already been killed at the time of this clip.
The week-long ICC proceedings are not a trial but a “confirmation of charges” hearing, enabling judges to weigh whether to move ahead with a trial.
Duterte, 80, is not in the courtroom after exercising his right not to appear.
His defense team says he is weak and in cognitive decline. The prosecution and victims counter that he is healthy but does not want to face loved-ones of victims.
The court passed him fit to attend but granted him his right to absence.
Once the hearings wrap up Friday, the court will take up to 60 days to decide whether to proceed to a full trial, usually by written judgment.
Duterte’s defense lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, on Monday said his client “maintained his innocence absolutely.”
Kaufman argued that while Duterte used “bluster and hyperbole” in his speeches, he also frequently ordered authorities only to shoot in self-defense.