ICC rejects release for Philippines ex-president Duterte

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THE HAGUE - The International Criminal Court on Friday rejected a request by former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte to be released from detention ahead of his trial on crimes against humanity during his war on drugs.

Presiding judge Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza told a hearing that lawyers for the 80-year-old had not laid out strong enough precautions to warrant a temporary release from custody in The Hague, where the court is based.

Duterte's lawyers, appealing against an earlier refusal, had called for a "humanitarian" parole because of the state of his health.

The judge said "the conditions for release proposed were not sufficient to mitigate the risks it found in relation to Mr Duterte's interim release".

The court also "rejected the defence's argument that Mr Duterte should be released for humanitarian reasons".

Duterte, who was president from 2016 to 2022, was detained in Manila on March 11 and taken to the ICC prison at Scheveningen, near The Hague. He appeared very weak, barely speaking, when he made his first court appearance by video.

The charges against Duterte have been made over the campaign against drug traffickers and consumers during his presidency that rights groups say left thousands dead.

The court is still to give a ruling on whether Duterte is fit to stand trial. A ruling in October rejected claims by his defence that the ICC was not competent to judge Duterte on three charges of crimes against humanity.

One charge concerns 19 murders committed between 2013 and 2016, when Duterte was mayor of Davao City. A second relates to 14 killings of alleged drug bosses in 2016 and 2017, when he was president. The third covers 43 killings of suspected low-level drug users or dealers.

The Philippines government "respects" the court ruling, a spokeswoman for President Ferdinand Marcos told reporters in Manila. Duterte's daughter, Sara Duterte, is a vice president.

Rights activists welcomed the latest legal blow to Duterte.

The families of some of those who died in Duterte's campaign watched the hearing by video at a Manila university campus. They erupted in cheers and applause when the decision was announced.

"We really prayed for (Duterte) not to be granted an interim release," Dahlia Cuartero, whose late son Jesus would have turned 33 on Saturday, told AFP. "This is the best birthday gift for him," she said.