MANILA — The International Criminal Court said on Thursday that it was opening a preliminary investigation into accusations that President Rodrigo Duterte and other Philippine officials had committed crimes against humanity in the course of the government’s deadly crackdown on drugs. 
 
 Fatou Bensouda, a prosecutor for the international court, said in a statement that the inquiry would gauge whether there was enough evidence to build a case. She said she would be looking at events since July 1, 2016, “in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ campaign.” 
 
 “My office undertakes this work with full independence and impartiality,” Ms. Bensouda said. “As we do, we hope to count on the full engagement of the relevant national authorities in the Philippines.” 
 
 Harry Roque, a spokesman for the Philippine president, said that the government’s crackdown was a “legitimate police operation” and that the president welcomed The Hague-based tribunal’s decision. ||||| The international criminal court has launched an initial inquiry into allegations of crimes against humanity committed by Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine president, in his brutal anti-drugs crusade. 
 
 A report submitted to the ICC last year laid out evidence that Duterte had been directly responsible for “extrajudicial executions and mass murder” over three decades since he began his war on drugs as mayor of Davao in 1988. 
 
 Thousands dead: the Philippine president, the death squad allegations and a brutal drugs war Read more 
 
 According to official statistics, 4,000 people have been killed by the police in anti-drug operations since Duterte became president. However, the 77-page report submitted by a Philippine lawyer, Jude Sabio, alleged the death toll was over 8,000. 
 
 The ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement that her office would “analyse crimes allegedly committed … since at least 1 July 2016 in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ campaign”. The inquiry will be the ICC’s first preliminary examination in a south-east Asian nation. 
 
 Gary Alejano, an opposition politician who tried to get Duterte impeached last year and submitted evidence to the ICC as part of the complaint, said the move was an affirmation that the claims against Duterte had legitimacy, and it offered “a ray of hope for the victims of his war on drugs, which is still ongoing right now”. 
 
 
 
 He said: “In this country, people are at a loss where to go if members of your family feel victim to the war on drugs. They cannot go to police because they are involved, they cannot go to the department of justice because the secretary will say there’s no such thing as extrajudicial killing. And when we request an investigation from the House of Representatives, we can not get an impartial hearing because they are covering up for the president. There is a clear and blatant violation of the rule of law in the Philippines right now, and so the ICC are the only ones who can step in.” 
 
 Alejano said he believed they had a “strong case, if we are given the opportunity to be heard.” 
 
 Duterte’s spokesperson, Harry Roque, described the inquiry as a “waste of the court’s time and resources,” stressing that many of the allegations predated the Philippines signing up to the ICC in 2011, and therefore could not be considered. However, Bensouda specifically referenced killings since 1 July 2016 in her statement. 
 
 Roque said continuing with the investigation would undermine the sovereignty of the Philippines “because the domestic courts are functioning and willing to entertain this matter … and the alleged deaths, if true, were because of a legitimate police exercise.” 
 
 He alleged that “domestic enemies” were behind the complaint and said Duterte was prepared to go on trial and defend his actions, though he said he was confident the ICC would not proceed. “He’s sick and tried of being accused. He wants to be in court and put the prosecutor on the stand,” Roque said. 
 
 Since securing a landslide victory in the 2016 elections on a pledge to kill tens of thousands of criminals and eradicate drugs in Philippine society, Duterte has authorised police to violently crack down on illegal drug use, urging them to kill suspects and promising to protect them from prosecution. His abrasive tongue and brutal methods have kept him popular in the Philippines, where he enjoys high approval ratings and legislative support. 
 
 He maintains that the thousands who died were suspects who resisted arrest, but human rights groups and political opponents allege that many murders have been carried out and covered up. 
 
 When he was mayor of Davao, Duterte’s crackdown on criminals was often carried out by vigilante groups, known as death squads, allegedly with his approval. The thousands of deaths in Davao were part of the complaint filed to the ICC. 
 
 Duterte’s war on drugs leaves tragic legacy for Filipino families – in pictures Read more 
 
 Duterte is notorious for his dislike of the ICC, calling it “bullshit”, “hypocritical” and “useless”, and he has threatened to withdraw his country’s membership multiple times, even daring the court to bring him to trial. 
 
 Human Rights Watch, which has been calling for an independent international investigation into Duterte’s war on drugs, welcomed the ICC’s move. Phil Robertson, a deputy director in its Asia division, said the ICC “absolutely should initiate a full investigation into these alleged crimes because to date there has been no serious attempt to investigate them by the Philippines police or prosecutors, much less take suspected killers to court”. 
 
 The ICC defines crimes against humanity as “serious violations committed as part of a large-scale attack against any civilian population”. Since it was established in 2002, the court in The Hague has received more than 12,000 complaints or communications, and nine cases have gone to trial.
– Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte welcomes a preliminary investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity now underway by the International Criminal Court, a spokesman said Thursday, marking an about-face for a man who once described the ICC as "bulls---." Duterte is "sick and tired of being accused" and is prepared to defend himself in court, though the investigation is "a waste of the court's time and resources," spokesman Harry Roque said in announcing the inquiry that is to decide whether there's evidence to build a case, report the New York Times and Guardian. Roque maintained the government crackdown that's left an estimated 12,000 people dead under Duterte's leadership—though police put the number at 4,000—is a "legitimate police operation" to weed out drugs. Duterte swore to "kill" criminals when he took office in June 2016. He has since faced accusations of mass murder while keeping up a "great relationship" with President Trump. It's those allegations that launched the ICC probe, confirmed by a prosecutor, per the Guardian. In a complaint sent to the ICC last April, a Filipino lawyer representing two men who say they were assassins for Duterte called him a "mastermind" of killings spanning the three decades since he became mayor of Davao in 1988. "Hopefully a warrant of arrest will be issued by the ICC against Duterte and his cohorts," 11 of whom are named in the complaint, the lawyer said, per the Times. Arguing the government is attempting a cover-up, Duterte political opponent Gary Alejano says ICC officials "are the only ones who can step in."