Warning: This story and video contains strong language Rodrigo Duterte has hit back at the European Parliament after it criticised plans to reintroduce the death penalty in the…
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Rodrigo Duterte has hit back at the European Parliament after it criticised plans to reintroduce the death penalty in the Philippines.
Philippine president Duterte told MEPs to stop interfering in his country’s affairs after they expressed their ‘deep alarm’ at moves to revive capital punishment.
“I’ll talk in English,” he began, addressing Filipino expatriates in Myanmar. “Do not impose your culture or your belief in what would be a government in this planet. Do not impose on other countries, especially us.
“Why don’t you mind your own business? Why do you have to fuck with us, goddamn it?”
Duterte, who according to a survey was supported by 86 percent of Filipino after his first three months in office, has overseen a bloody drugs crackdown that has seen more than 8,000 deaths since last July.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on March 16, 2017, which called on the Philippines’ House of Representatives to “immediately halt ongoing proceedings to reinstate the death penalty”.
The text also calls for the immediate release of Senator Leila de Lima, a critic of Duterte’s who was arrested last month on what the parliament says are feared to be “almost entirely fabricated” charges.
Capital punishment is still practiced in around a third of countries worldwide, including, as Duterte was keen to point out on Sunday, the Philippines’ neighbours Indonesia and Malaysia. The death penalty has been suspended in the Philippines since 2006.
Duterte also said he would welcome the prospect of the International Criminal Court putting him on trial over his drugs crackdown.
“I will not be intimidated and I shall not be stopped just by what? International Criminal Court? Impeachment? If that is part of my destiny, it is my destiny to go,” Duterte told reporters shortly before leaving for Myanmar.
“The drive against corruption, criminality and drugs will resume and it will continue and it will be brutal.”