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Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte's top drug war enforcer said Tuesday he would never surrender to an international court, while pleading for current President Ferdinand Marcos to intervene on his behalf.Ronald Dela Rosa, a sitting senator and former police chief, has taken refuge in the Senate since narrowly escaping government agents attempting to serve him an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant tied to his role in the bloody drug crackdown during Duterte's presidency.In a copy of the warrant issued in November but made public only late Monday, Dela Rosa, better known by his nickname "Bato", is accused of the crime against humanity of murder along with Duterte and other co-perpetrators."I wish (Marcos) would not send me to The Hague" but to "any court in the Philippines", Dela Rosa told reporters Tuesday as more than 100 riot police stood guard outside the Senate building."If I have committed something, I will answer for it here, not in a foreign country. That's my appeal to him."Dela Rosa's former boss, who was president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested in Manila in March last year and flown to the Netherlands that same night. Duterte has been held at the ICC's detention unit at Scheveningen Prison awaiting trial.Since then, Dela Rosa has frequently condemned the arrest and rendition while stating he believed he was next.Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.The true number of killings during his campaign in the Philippines is thought to be in the thousands, and lawyers for the victims have argued that a full trial could encourage more families to come forward.In a statement Tuesday, a Marcos spokeswoman said the president would "not interfere in the decisions of the Senate", while declining to discuss the details of the warrant against Dela Rosa."Everything that happens in the Senate is within their power," Claire Castro said.Dela Rosa's defence team, meanwhile, has filed an injunction with the country's Supreme Court, seeking judicial protection from what they called a "coordinated" enforcement strategy against him.The senator had not been seen publicly since November before emerging on Monday to take part in an unexpected vote that helped Duterte loyalists capture control of the Senate.Video released by the legislative body showed Dela Rosa being chased through the halls of the upper chamber by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officers.Tuesday, NBI director Melvin Matibag told reporters Dela Rosa had travelled to the Senate in the car of a fellow lawmaker, then bolted when approached by two agents attempting to serve a warrant.He also denied that Dela Rosa had been "tackled and wrestled", saying the senator had tripped on the stairs while being pursued."He was literally avoiding arrest," Matibag said. "I was asked why there was a chase. I said he ran, that's why we chased him."Newly elected Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters on Monday that Dela Rosa was under the Senate's protection."We will allow an arrest under the condition that it is a Philippine court," Cayetano said.Asked Tuesday if he would submit to an arrest warrant by a local court, Dela Rosa said: "We will cross the bridge when we get there." 

Judges at ‌the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed murder charges against former Philippine President ‌Rodrigo Duterte as ⁠crimes against humanity ‌Thursday, paving the way for ‌a trial.The judges said there were "substantial grounds" to believe Duterte, 81, played a ⁠key role in the murders of 76 people and the attempted murder of two others as part of his so-called "war on drugs", which prosecutors say killed thousands of civilians in the Philippines."The available evidentiary material shows the existence of a common plan between Mr Duterte and his co-perpetrators to kill alleged criminals in the Philippines, including those perceived or alleged to ​be associated with drug use, sale or production, through violent crimes including murder," the court said.In pre-trial hearings, his lawyers argued that Duterte's public statements that he would ‌stop drugs and criminality in the ⁠Philippines and would ​tell security forces to go out and kill criminals were ​just rhetoric, meant to instil fear.In the Philippines, the office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement to say that it respected the ruling and justice must be served."Both sides stand to benefit from this. Justice for the accused if he is innocent, or justice for the victims if their rights were indeed abused," the statement said.The case will now be assigned to a trial chamber which will start planning for a trial. ‌In previous cases, it has ‌taken the ICC up to a ⁠year between the confirmation of charges and the opening of a trial.Prosecutors have ⁠said Duterte created, funded ⁠and armed death squads to target and kill suspected narcotics peddlers and users when he was in power between 2016 and 2022. He was arrested and taken to The Hague last March.Duterte has long insisted he instructed police to kill only in self-defence and has always defended the crackdown.Appeals judges at the court ​on Wednesday had dismissed a bid to throw out Duterte's trial and said the court had jurisdiction over the case.Lawyers for the octogenarian former president have also tried to argue that Duterte was unfit to stand trial because of alleged cognitive decline.But judges in the pre-trial procedure ruled the case could move forward. It is rare for international courts to find suspects, even elderly ones, wholly unfit for trial. The ICC has never found a suspect unfit ‌for trial despite ​several other defendants' petitions. 

The prosecutor's office at the International Criminal Court warned Monday that atrocities committed in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.The ICC prosecutor's office (OTP) voiced "profound alarm and deepest concern" over reports from El-Fasher about mass killings, rapes, and other crimes allegedly committed.After 18 months of siege, bombardment and starvation, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of El-Fasher on October 26, dislodging the army's last stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region."These atrocities are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region since April 2023," said the OTP in a statement."Such acts, if substantiated, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute," the founding text of the ICC.The UN said more than 65,000 people have fled El-Fasher, including around 5,000 to nearby Tawila, but tens of thousands remain trapped.Before the final assault, roughly 260,000 people lived in the city.Since the RSF takeover, reports have emerged of executions, sexual violence, looting, attacks on aid workers and abductions in and around El-Fasher, where communications remain largely cut off.The RSF traces its origins to the Janjaweed, a predominantly Arab militia accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.Reports since El-Fasher's fall have raised fears of a return to similar atrocities.

International Criminal Court prosecutors have charged former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his "war on drugs."A heavily redacted charge sheet dated July 4 but only made public on Monday lays out the accusations against the 80-year-old former leader, currently sitting in ICC detention in The Hague.The first count concerns his alleged involvement as a co-perpetrator in 19 murders carried out between 2013 and 2016 while Duterte was mayor of Davao City.The second count relates to 14 murders of so-called "High Value Targets" in 2016 and 2017 when Duterte was president.And the third charge is about 43 murders committed during "clearance" operations of lower-level alleged drug users or pushers.These took place across the Philippines between 2016 and 2018, the prosecution alleged."The actual scale of victimisation during the charged period was significantly greater, as reflected in the widespread nature of the attack," said the ICC prosecutors."The attack included thousands of killings, which were perpetrated consistently throughout the charged period," they alleged.The charges against Duterte stem from his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups said killed thousands.The arrest warrant issued for Duterte on March 7 contained one charge of crimes against humanity relating to 43 alleged murders.The prosecutors' charges came on the eve of what was scheduled to be Duterte's appearance at the ICC to hear the accusations against him.However that sitting was postponed as the court weighs whether Duterte is fit to hear the charges.His lawyer Nicholas Kaufman has said his client is not able to stand trial "as a result of cognitive impairment in multiple domains".Kaufman has urged the ICC to postpone proceedings against Duterte indefinitely.Duterte was arrested in Manila on March 11, flown to the Netherlands that same night and has been held at the ICC's detention unit at Scheveningen Prison since.At his initial hearing, he followed by video link, appearing dazed and frail, barely speaking.