ICC suspends PH drug war probe, warned of Duterte ‘ruse’
The Philippines formally requested to defer the investigation, saying the administration was already looking into allegations of extrajudicial killings and other atrocities
Sunday, November 21, 2021
Human rights lawyers who accused President Rodrigo Duterte of committing crimes against humanity appealed to Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan of the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to halt the investigation of the thousands of killings and other atrocities in the government’s war on drugs. “We ask the ICC not to allow itself to be swayed by the claims now being made by the Duterte administration,” the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), which represents some of the victims in the brutal anti-drug campaign, said in a statement. The group urged ICC to deny the government’s request for a “deferral” of the probe and proceed with a full-blown investigation of the drug war atrocities so as not to dim the “glimmer of hope” that the families of thousands of victims of alleged extrajudicial killings would still get justice.
