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FORMER Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was "abducted" before being taken to The Hague to face murder allegations and is too ill to give evidence, his lawyer told International Criminal Court judges at his initial appearance on Friday.
Duterte - who arrived in the Netherlands on a flight from Manila on Wednesday after being arrested on an ICC warrant on charges of crimes against humanity - sounded frail as he spoke via video link from a detention unit, confirming his name and date of birth for the court.
Reuters reported Defence attorney Salvador Medialdea saying Duterte was too ill to say more, that his arrest and transfer to the Netherlands was "pure and simple kidnapping” and that his client was suffering from "debilitating" medical issues.
The former leader's daughter Sara Duterte, the current vice president of the Philippines, watched the proceedings from the public gallery.
Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc responded that the court doctor, who examined Duterte upon arrival, was of the opinion that he was "fully mentally aware and fit".
She added that Duterte and his lawyers can raise issues over his transfer to the court and his health at a later stage in the proceedings.
Prosecutors have accused the 79-year-old of carrying out a systematic attack on the civilian population during his time in office.Thousands of purported drug dealers and users were killed during a crackdown, when death squads he allegedly created and armed carried out widespread extrajudicial killings.
"For us victims of the war on drugs, this is the first step to attaining justice," the lawyer representing families of victims of drug-related killings in the Phillipines, Gilbert Andres, said outside the court.
Duterte arrived at Rotterdam airport on a chartered plane Wednesday and was transferred to a detention unit on the Dutch coast up the road from the ICC building. In a video message on social media, he took responsibility for his actions. – March 15, 2025