ICC probe on ‘drug war’ must be pursued
ICC probe on ‘drug war’ must be pursued
It was only a preliminary examination. It essentially focused on documented complaints and information received from various sources – including from families of victims – pertaining to alleged extrajudicial killings of civilians, carried out in pursuance of the Duterte administration’s “war on drugs” during its first nine months in office (July 1, 2016 to March 19, 2019).
But when submitted, in a 57-page report to the International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber last June 14, outgoing ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda came up with these preliminary findings:
• “These extrajudicial killings, perpetrated across the Philippines, appear to have been committed pursuant to an official state policy of the Philippine government. Police and other government officials planned, ordered and sometimes directly perpetrated EJKs. They paid police officers and vigilante bounties for EJKs.”
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