ICC on Duterte arrest order: Announcement to come from official channels

Exterior of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Associated Press Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

MANILA, Philippines — The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) announcements on the arrest warrant for former President Rodrigo Duterte will come from its official channels, its spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah told INQUIRER.net on Monday.

Over the weekend, reports came out that the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Duterte for his crimes against humanity allegedly committed during his administration’s bloody war on drugs that started when he was mayor of Davao City.

READ: Gov’t ‘obliged to follow’ Interpol on Rodrigo Duterte arrest

“We are not commenting on reports,” Fadi El Abdallah said in a message to INQUIRER.net.

“ICC announcements come from our official channels. The Court has not issued any press release about this matter. The Office of the Prosecutor has an ongoing investigation in relation to the situation in the Philippines,” he added.

“Confidentiality is a crucial part of this work and is essential to protect the integrity of investigations and to ensure the safety and security of victims and witnesses,” he also said.

Duterte went to Hong Kong over the weekend to attend a rally by his Filipino supporters. His trip caused a stir after reports about the arrest warrant.

The Philippines withdrew as a State party from the ICC’s Rome Statute effective March 17, 2019.

However, ICC Special Prosecutor Karim Khan said the Philippines was still a party to the Rome Statute that created the ICC when the alleged abuses and extrajudicial killings related to Duterte’s crackdown on illegal drugs occured.

Khan stressed the scope of the probe covers alleged crimes from November 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019.