In a scenario once considered unthinkable for a head of state who presided over the public and brutal killings of thousands of civilians, Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, appeared at an International Criminal Court hearing via a video link on Friday.
Mr. Duterte’s arrest this week on charges of crimes against humanity, which came nearly three years after he left office, is a crucial step for Filipinos who have been seeking justice for their loved ones.
The 30-minute hearing in The Hague on Friday was procedural — a court officer informed Mr. Duterte of the charges, and Judge Iulia Motoc read him his rights and set a date for a hearing on Sept. 23 to determine whether the evidence presented by the prosecution was sufficient to take the case to trial.
But the breadth of the accusations against Mr. Duterte underscored the high stakes of the case in the country he once led.
During Mr. Duterte’s time as mayor of Davao City and as president, officers and vigilantes gunned down tens of thousands of people during what was portrayed as a war on drugs, rights groups said. Some of the victims were minors, and many were not involved in the drug trade, activists say.
Salvador Medialdea, Mr. Duterte’s lawyer, said in court on Friday that Mr. Duterte’s arrest amounted to a “pure and simple kidnapping” and called it “political score settling.”
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