Philippines withdraws from ICC
News & Trends •
duterte dared it to bring him to trial and said he would rot in jail to save filipinos from crime and drugs1 dpanan president rodrigo duterte of philippines on wednesday announced the withdrawal of the countrys ratification of the treaty that established the international criminal court icc1 duterte alleged that the icc was being utilised as a political tool against the philippines after its prosecutor prematurely announced a preliminary examination of allegations against him relating to killings amid his campaign against illegal drugs1 nan reports that in february the icc said it had started a preliminary examination to establish whether it had jurisdiction and if crimes against humanity had been committed1 the complaint which says duterte is complicit in the illegal deaths of thousands of filipinos during his war on drugs was a waste of the courts time and resources and the examination would be the end of the process presidential spokesman harry roque said1 about 4000 mostly urban poor filipinos have been killed by police in the past 19 months in a brutal crackdown that has alarmed the international community1 activists believe the death toll is far higher1 roque said he had discussed the icc issue for two hours the previous night with duterte a former prosecutor adding that the president more than willing to face trial1 the website of the icc which sits in the hague in the netherlands carried no new information concerning the complaint against duterte1 the courts office could not immediately be reached for comment1 since it was set up in 2002 the icc has received more than 12000 such complaints or communications just nine of which have gone to trial1 i therefore declare and forthwith give notice as president of the republic of the philippines that the philippines is withdrawing its ratification of the rome statute effective immediately he said in a statement1 his tirades against the court are notorious and include calling it bullshit hypocritical and useless stemming from one of its prosecutors saying there could be grounds for an investigation into his bloody crackdown1 he also threatened to cancel the philippines icc membership and said european lawyers were rotten stupid and had a brain like a pea1 police say those thousands of killings were during legitimate anti-drugs operations in which the suspects had violently resisted arrest1 duterte has boasted about killing thousands of drug dealers and has told police they can kill if they believe their lives are in danger1 but his critics accuse him of incitement to murder and of refusing to properly investigate allegations that police are planting evidence fabricating reports and executing users and dealers1 duterte rejects such accusations and typically chides the international community for listening to what his government says are biased human rights groups that have no proof1 a philippine lawyer filed the initial icc complaint against duterte and at least 11 senior officials in april 2017 saying crimes against humanity were committed repeatedly unchangingly and continuously and killing drug suspects and other criminals had become best practice1 senator antonio trillanes and congressman gary alejano sent a supplementary communication several months later urging an icc investigation which included a list of public statements made by duterte that they said amounted to shoot-to-kill orders1 trillanes said the examination should jolt duterte into realizing that he is not above the law1 roque called the complainants domestic enemies of the state and said the icc had no jurisdiction1