ICC resumes probe into Philippines drug war
International Criminal Court judges yesterday rejected the Philippines' appeal to halt a probe into the nation's deadly anti-drug crackdown, clearing the way for the investigation to resume.
The so-called drug war launched under former president Rodrigo Duterte has killed thousands and drawn allegations of widespread rights violations.
The ICC launched a formal inquiry in September 2021, only to suspend it two months later after Manila said it was re-examining several hundred cases of drug operations that led to deaths at the hands of police, hitmen and vigilantes.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan later asked to reopen the inquiry in June 2022 and pre-trial judges at the court gave the green light in late January, a decision which Manila appealed shortly afterwards.
Judges at a public hearing at the court's headquarters yesterday "confirmed by majority... a decision granting authorisation to the ICC Prosecutor to resume the investigations in relation to the situation in the Philippines."
A five-judge bench dismissed Manila's objection that the court had no jurisdiction because the Philippines pulled out of the ICC in 2019, some three years before the inquiry was resumed.
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