France doesn’t deem a person guilty until proven innocent, unlike what President Rodrigo Duterte said earlier this week in a speech he gave during the celebration of National Heroes’ Day.
This is what the President said: “They can detain a person almost indefinitely, under the French law. And the French law says you are guilty, and you have to prove your innocence. Here, the presumption is you are innocent.” He said this after lambasting United Nations rapporteur on summary executions Agnes Callamard.
However, the Embassy of France to the Philippines and Micronesia corrected Duterte’s claim.
“We have to point out that, as in the Philippines, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty is at the core of the French judicial system, based on the principles enshrined in the French Declaration of Human and Civic Rights of August 26, 1789,” the Embassy said in a statement earlier today.
Callamard is a critic of Duterte’s war on drugs.
Over the weekend via Twitter, she expressed her condolences for the family of 17-year-old Kian Lloyd delos Santos who was killed by the police last Aug. 16 in an anti-drug operation in Caloocan City. She also called Duterte’s war on drugs as “murder.”
It’s not that hard to research and be sure about something before talking about it in the public. Especially if you’re, you know, the President.
Header image courtesy of Inquirer.net
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