THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Efforts to arrest a Philippine senator wanted by the International Criminal Court on a charge of murder as a crime against humanity led to a burst of gunfire Wednesday and a standoff in the Senate building.
No one was hurt during the tense scene in Manila. It came two days after the court based in The Hague unsealed an arrest warrant for Ronald Marapon dela Rosa, who served as national police chief under former President Rodrigo Duterte and helped carry out his anti-drug crackdowns in which thousands of mostly petty suspects were killed.
Issued in November, the warrant charges dela Rosa with the crime against humanity of murder of no fewer than 32 people between July 2016 and the end of April 2018, when he led the police force.
Dela Rosa, 64, has vowed to fight the ICC arrest order and said he would seek all legal remedies.
The ICC had no immediate comment on the events in Manila.
The Philippines left the court in 2019 after telling the United Nations it was doing so following then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's announcement that she was opening a preliminary probe into allegations of extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
The country hasn't rejoined the ICC under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who succeeded Duterte in 2022. But the Marcos administration said it would cooperate if the ICC asked international police to take Duterte into custody through a so-called red notice — a request for law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a suspect. It wasn't immediately clear if such a notice was issued for dela Rosa.
Duterte was arrested last year and sent to The Hague to faces charges of crimes against humanity linked to the deadly drug crackdown. He remains jailed there awaiting trial.
Judges last year rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to throw out the case on the grounds that the court didn't have jurisdiction because the Philippines had withdrawn from the court. Countries can’t “abuse” their right to withdraw from the Rome Statute “by shielding persons from justice in relation to alleged crimes that are already under consideration,” the ruling said.
The court was set up in 2002 and aims to hold leaders and senior officials accountable for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. It has 125 member states, but three major global powers — the United States, Russia and China — are not members. Ukraine officially joined the court in January 2025.
More than 900 staff work for the court, which has a budget this year of just over 196 million euros ($229 million).
The ICC is a court of last resort, meaning it only takes on cases when countries’ legal systems are unable or unwilling to prosecute suspects.
Trump’s administration has slapped sanctions on the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, some ICC judges and Khan’s two deputies. Trump accuses the court of “illegitimate and baseless actions” targeting America and Israel.
Trump previously sanctioned Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, during his first term in the White House. The Biden administration subsequently lifted those sanctions.
Russia also rejects the court’s authority and has issued a warrant for Khan and the ICC judge who signed President Vladimir Putin’s warrant.
Putin has already traveled overseas since the warrant was issued in 2023, including to ICC member state Mongolia. He has also traveled to China and North Korea, which are not court members.
Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa gestures to reporters at the Philippine Senate in Pasay, Philippines on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Philippine troopers exchange fire along a hallway at the Philippine Senate in Pasay, Philippines on Wednesday May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A protester carries a slogan with a photo of Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa crying during a rally outside the Philippine Senate in Pasay, Philippines on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband and was later found guilty of killing him finds out Wednesday how long she will spend in prison.
Kouri Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing her husband's cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022.
Prosecutors said Richins, a 35-year-old real estate agent with a house-flipping business, was millions in debt and planning a future with another man. She had opened numerous life insurance policies on her husband Eric Richins without his knowledge and falsely believed she would inherit his estate worth more than $4 million after he died.
Eric Richins’ father, Eugene Richins, urged Judge Richard Mrazik to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole to protect his grandsons, who were ages 9, 7 and 5 when their father died.
“This sentence is important so Eric’s three sons never have to live with the fear that the person responsible for taking their father could ever harm them again,” he said during the sentencing hearing, which fell on the day his son would have turned 44.
Jurors also found Richins guilty of four other felonies, including attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich.
Richins faces several decades to life in prison. She has been adamant in maintaining she is innocent. Her attorneys said she would take the stand later Wednesday after waiving her right to do so during the trial.
In a letter read by a defense attorney, Richins’ mother, Lisa Darden, maintained that her daughter is not capable of murder and asked that she "be given a sentence that allows the possibility of a future.”
The case captivated true-crime enthusiasts when Richins was arrested in 2023 while promoting her children’s book about a boy coping with the death of his father.
Richins' sons “are not props for some twisted children’s book about grief and loss, and yet that is what they’ve been reduced to by Kouri,” said her sister-in-law Katie Richins-Benson, who now has the boys in her care.
Clinical social workers read letters from the sons, who all said they would feel unsafe if their mother was ever released from prison. The children said Richins hit and threatened to kill their animals, showed them videos of famished children in war zones when they refused to eat undercooked food and didn't seem to care about their health.
“You took away my dad for no reason other than greed, and you only cared about yourself and your stupid boyfriends,” said the middle son, now 11. He described having to “be a parent” to his younger brother because his mother did not watch over them. Richins made the boy paranoid about sitting on his dad's side of the bed, saying he might die, too, he alleged.
The oldest son, now 13, said he also felt like he had to take care of his siblings, but his younger brother “mostly took care of me, though, because I was locked in my room.” He said his mother would lock him inside “pretty much daily” while she was drunk.
The most serious charge, aggravated murder, is punishable either by a range of 25 years to life in prison, or a life sentence without parole. Prosecutors did not push for the death penalty.
Prison time for the attempted aggravated murder charge depends on the severity of the bodily injury that occurred. After taking a bite of the sandwich his wife left for him, Eric Richins broke out in hives, injected himself with his son’s EpiPen, drank a bottle of Benadryl and passed out, prosecutors said. Depending on the judge's assessment, Kouri Richins could face 15 years to life, 6 years to life or 5 years to life for that charge.
Two counts of insurance fraud, second-degree felonies, each carry a 1-15 year sentence, and a third-degree felony forgery charge is punishable by 0-5 years in prison.
The judge has discretion to decide whether Richins' prison sentences for each count will overlap or stack up.
Richins also faces more than two dozen money-related criminal charges in a separate case that has not yet gone to trial.
The trial was scheduled for five weeks but ended early when her defense team rested its case without calling any witnesses. Her attorneys said they were confident that prosecutors had not produced enough evidence to convict her of murder.
The jury deliberated for just under three hours before finding her guilty of all counts.
During the trial, prosecutors showed the jury text messages between Richins and her lover in which she fantasized about leaving her husband and gaining millions in a divorce. Prosecutors also displayed the internet search history from Richins’ phone, which included queries about the lethal dose of fentanyl, luxury prisons and how poisoning is marked on a death certificate.
The defense argued that Eric Richins was addicted to painkillers. Prosecutors countered by showing police body camera footage from the night of his death in which Kouri Richins tells an officer that her husband had no history of illicit drug use.
Gene Richins makes an impact statement during the sentencing of Kouri Richins in 3rd District Court in Park City, Utah, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
Amy Richins makes an impact statement during the sentencing of Kouri Richins in 3rd District Court in Park City, Utah, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
Kouri Richins appears at a sentencing hearing with her defense attorney Wendy Lewis, left, in 3rd District Court in Park City on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
Kouri Richins appears at a sentencing hearing with her defense attorney Wendy Lewis, left, in 3rd District Court in Park City on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
FILE -Kouri Richins looks on during her murder trial at the Summit County Courthouse in Park City, Utah, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Spenser Heaps, Pool, File)
