Sawt Falasteen - Duterte attends ICC hearing over drug war by video link

The 79-year-old, the first ex-Asian head of state to face charges at the ICC, was following by videolink during a short hearing to inform him of the crimes he is alleged to have committed, as well as his rights as a defendant.

Sounding frail and wearing a blue suit and tie, he spoke briefly to confirm his name and date of birth. The presiding judge allowed him to follow proceedings in absentia due to his long flight to The Hague.

Duterte stands accused of the crime against humanity of murder over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups said killed thousands.

In the prosecutor's application for his arrest, he said Duterte's alleged crimes were "part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population in the Philippines."

"Potentially tens of thousands of killings were perpetrated," the prosecutor alleged of the campaign that targeted mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.

Victims' families have welcomed the trial as a chance to get justice, while Duterte supporters believe he was "kidnapped" and sent to The Hague amid a spectacular fall-out with the ruling Marcos family.

A group of family members, lawyers and human rights activists was set to gather in Manila on Friday night to watch a livestream of the ICC hearing, said organisers Rise Up and the Duterte Accountability Campaign Network.

According to international law experts, his whirlwind arrest and surrender to the ICC offers a welcome boon to the embattled court which is being attacked from all sides and sanctioned by the United States.

"I see the arrest and handing over of Duterte as a gift at an important moment in time," Willem van Genugten, Professor of International Law at Tilburg University in The Netherlands, told AFP.

The hearing is due to take place at 2:00 pm local time (1300 GMT) at the hulking glass headquarters of the ICC based in The Hague. Pro- and anti-Duterte protests are expected outside.

Earlier Friday, his daughter Sara Duterte, vice president of the Philippines, said she had submitted a last-minute bid to get the hearing moved.

"We are praying and hoping that the court will grant our request to move the initial appearance just so that we can properly sit down with the former president and discuss the legal strategies since we haven't talked to him yet," she told AFP outside the court.

- 'Kill all of you' -

As he landed in The Hague, the former leader appeared to accept responsibility for his actions, saying in a Facebook video: "I have been telling the police, the military, that it was my job and I am responsible."

In his application for arrest, the prosecutor quotes from some of Duterte's pronouncements when he was running for president.

He is cited as saying the number of criminal suspects killed "will become 100,000... I will kill all of you" and the fish in Manila Bay "will become fat because that's where I will throw you."

Duterte has undergone health checks during his detention in The Hague.

The Philippines embassy in The Hague said on its website the former president told a consular official he had "received medical care and that he is generally fine."

Vice President Duterte is in The Netherlands to support her father, after labelling his arrest "oppression and persecution", with the Duterte family having sought an emergency injunction from the Supreme Court to stop his transfer.

At the initial hearing, a suspect can request interim release pending a trial, according to ICC rules.

Following that first hearing, the next phase is a session to confirm the charges, at which point a suspect can challenge the prosecutor's evidence.

Only after that hearing will the court decide whether to press ahead with a trial, a process that could take several months or even years.

Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan hailed Duterte's arrest as a key moment for victims and international justice as a whole.

"Many say that international law is not as strong as we want, and I agree with that. But as I also repeatedly emphasise, international law is not as weak as some may think," Khan said in a statement following Duterte's arrival in ICC custody.

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST