Officially, more than 6,000 people were killed in ex-president Duterte’s “war on drugs”. Read more at straitstimes.com.
But the probe was suspended in November 2019 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.
Officially, 6,181 people were killed in Mr Duterte’s “war on drugs” but rights group say that up to 30,000 may have been killed, some innocent victims, and that corruption was rife among security forces that acted with impunity. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan asked to restart the inquiry last year, saying the Philippine government under Mr Duterte’s successor, President Ferdinand Marcos, had not provided evidence it was carrying out thorough inquiries.
In a statement Thursday, the ICC said its pre-trial chamber “is not satisfied that the Philippines is undertaking relevant investigations that would warrant a deferral of the court’s investigations”. “The various domestic initiatives and proceedings, assessed collectively, do not amount to tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps,” it added.but with a focus on prevention and rehabilitation, though so far he has ruled out rejoining the ICC.killed at the height of Mr Duterte’s drug war, a rare conviction of an enforcer of the crackdown. AFP