Overview
- On day two of the Hague hearings, prosecutors said Rodrigo Duterte personally compiled kill lists, publicly named alleged drug suspects, and boasted about extrajudicial killings in videos presented to the court.
- The prosecution outlined witness accounts, including an allegation that a child was suffocated, and asserted the listed incidents represent a small fraction of thousands of alleged drug-war deaths.
- Duterte faces three counts tied to at least 76 killings between 2013 and 2018, detailing 19 murders in Davao, 14 “high-value target” killings in 2016–2017, and 43 deaths during nationwide “clean-up” operations.
- The former president denies the charges through his lawyer and is absent from the four-day confirmation hearings after waiving his right to appear.
- Rights groups and prosecutors cite 12,000–30,000 overall deaths versus at least 6,252 officially recorded, as the ICC maintains jurisdiction for alleged crimes from 2011–2019 despite a defense appeal and the Philippines’ 2019 withdrawal.