The controversial former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has been arrested over claims of crimes against humanity.
The government said he was detained on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant when he landed in Manila on Tuesday.
The case centres on thousands of killings that took place during his brutal crackdown on illegal drugs from 2011 – when he was a city mayor – to the end of his presidency in 2022.
Mr Duterte won power in 2016 on the back of a policy to kill drug dealers and smash crime.
The ex-president was arrested after flying back from speaking in Hong Kong. Pic: AP
It’s claimed police or vigilantes working for them, such as gunmen on motorbikes, killed masses of unarmed suspects while he was in charge.
Authorities have denied the claims.
Mr Duterte said on Monday he was ready to be arrested when he landed back in his home country from Hong Kong.
His team have already declared the arrest unlawful and vowed to fight it.
The 79-year-old admitted to an inquiry last year that he had a “death squad” of gangsters who killed at his behest when he was mayor of Davao.
However, he denied authorising police to shoot suspects when he became president.
Mr Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, when he was leader.
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The ex-president’s administration also tried to suspend the ICC probe in late 2021, arguing it didn’t have jurisdiction and saying domestic authorities were already looking at the claims.
Judges in The Hague rejected the objections two years ago and said the investigation could continue.
Protesters demonstrated over the killings when Mr Duterte was still in charge in 2021. Pic: AP
Current president Bongbong Marcos Jr, who took over in 2022, has not re-joined the ICC.
However, he said he would cooperate if his predecessor was put under an Interpol “red notice” – a request for police anywhere in the world to arrest a suspect.
