The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said she was “deeply concerned” over the spate of extrajudicial killings that have taken place in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte came in to power earlier this year.
Fatou Bensouda said she was "deeply concerned about these alleged killings and the fact that public statements of high officials of the republic of the Philippines seem to condone such killings".
Almost 3,000 people are thought to have been killed since Mr Duterte launched a crackdown on the drug trade in June. As many as 1,566 suspects have died in police custody.
In her statement, Ms Bensouda reminded the Philippines that the wave of killings could be prosecuted by the court if "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population."
“Any person in the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence including by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing, in any other manner, to the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is potentially liable to prosecution before the court”.
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