ICCHONG KONG/THE HAGUE--A Philippines lawyer filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday against President Rodrigo Duterte and senior officials, accusing them of mass murder in a nationwide anti-drugs crackdown.
Attorney Jude Sabio said in the 77-page complaint that Duterte "repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously" committed crimes against humanity and that under him, killing drug suspects and other criminals has become "best practice". Sabio is the lawyer for Edgar Matobato, a man who has testified in the Philippines Senate that he was part of a hit squad that operated on Duterte's orders.
It is the first publicly known communication to the ICC against Duterte and is based on the testimony of Matobato and retired policeman Arturo Lascanas, statements from rights groups and media reports, including a Reuters series on the killings.
The complaint alleged that Duterte and at least 11 senior government officials were liable for murder and called for an investigation, arrest warrants and a trial. Lawmakers found no proof of Matobato's Senate testimony, which the president's aides have dismissed as fabrication.
Almost 9,000 people have been killed since Duterte took office last summer. Police claim a third of those killings were in self-defence during legitimate police operations. Rights groups say many of the remaining two-thirds were committed by vigilantes cooperating with the police or by police disguised as vigilantes. Police deny this.
Duterte has persistently denied he is involved with any death squad and said that his orders to kill drug suspects come with the caveat that police should operate within the bounds of the law.
"We can confirm we have received a communication," the ICC Office of the Prosecutor said in a statement. "We will analyse it, as appropriate. As soon as we reach a decision, we will inform the sender and provide reasons for our decision."
Ernesto Abella, a spokesman for Duterte, dismissed the complaint as a "cynical effort" to undermine the president.
"The so-called extra-judicial killings are not state-sanctioned or state-sponsored," Abella said in a statement. "The intent of this filing in ICC is clearly to embarrass and shame the president, and undermine the duly constituted government of the Philippines."
