The global importance of Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest

Thugs in high office can be deterred. But only if politics allows

WHEN RODRIGO DUTERTE was arrested on the morning of March 11th, as he stepped off a plane in Manila, hundreds of supporters thronged outside the airbase to protest. Their hero, a former president of the Philippines, had been denied due process, they claimed.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “A strongman in the world court’s dock”

From the March 15th 2025 edition

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