Former Philippine President Duterte arrested on an ICC warrant over drug killings

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at Manila’s international airport on Tuesday (March 11, 2025) on order of the International Criminal Court in connection with a case of crime against humanity filed against him, the Philippine government said.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested at Manila's international airport on Tuesday (March 11, 2025) on order of the International Criminal Court in connection with a case of crime against humanity filed against him, the Philippine government said.

Duterte was arrested after arriving from Hong Kong and police took him into custody on orders of the ICC, which has been investigating the mass killings that happened under the former president's deadly crackdown against illegal drugs, President Ferdinand Marcos' office said in a statement.

“Upon his arrival, the prosecutor general served the ICC notification for an arrest warrant to the former president for the crime of crime against humanity,” the government said. “He’s now in the custody of authorities.”

The surprise arrest sparked a commotion at the airport, where lawyers and aides of Duterte loudly protested that they, along with a doctor and lawyers, were prevented from coming close to him after he was taken into police custody. “This is a violation of his constitutional right,” Sen. Bong Go, a close Duterte ally, told reporters.

Duterte's arrest and downfall stunned and drove families of the victims of his bloody crackdowns against illegal drugs to tears.

“This is a big, long-awaited day for justice,” Randy delos Santos, the uncle of a teenager killed by police during an anti-drug operation in August 2017 in the Manila metropolis, told The Associated Press.

“Now we feel that justice is rolling. We hope that top police officials and the hundreds of police officers who were involved in the illegal killings should also be placed in custody and punished,” delos Santos said.