Duterte to arrest ICC prober if she sets foot in PH

President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to bar International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda if she visits the Philippines to conduct an inquiry into his administration’s war on drugs. (Photo by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to bar International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda if she visits the Philippines to conduct an inquiry into his administration’s war on drugs.

“You cannot exercise any proceedings here without basis. That is illegal and I will arrest you,” he warned Bensouda during a press conference in Davao City on Friday, April 13, upon his arrival from a working visit to China and Hong Kong.

The President maintained that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to conduct preliminary investigation into the crimes allegedly committed under Duterte’s anti-illegal drug campaign as the Philippines “was never a member of the ICC.”

He argued that the country’s membership in the Rome Statute—the treaty that established the court—did not take effect as it was not published in the Official Gazette or any newspaper of general circulation.

“There has to be a publication. If there is no publication, it is as if there is no law at all,” he explained.

“Kaya ikaw (That’s why, you) Ms. Fatou, ‘wag kang pumunta dito (Don’t come here) because I will bar you,” he added.

Reiterating his arguments against the ICC, Duterte said he is not afraid of the tribunal.

“Not because I am afraid of you, I said, because you will never have jurisdiction over my person, not in a million years. What is your authority now? If we are not members of the treaty, why are you f****** in this country?” the President emphasized.

The Philippines, through Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Teodoro Locsin Jr., formally notified the UN of its withdrawal from the ICC on March 16.

In withdrawing the country’s membership in the tribunal, Duterte cited “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” against him by UN officials and the alleged attempt of Bensouda to place him under the ICC’s jurisdiction.

Duterte earlier directed government forces not to answer questions coming from the UN rapporteurs who seek to investigate the situation of human rights under his administration.

“Why would we be answering — Bakit sino sila (Who are they)? And who are you to interfere in the way I would run my country? You know very well that we are being swallowed by drugs,” the Chief Executive on March 1 said.