Duterte threatens to take legal action vs UN envoy

President Duterte is prepared to take legal action against a United Nations (UN) envoy amid baseless allegations that he was involved in extrajudicial killings in the country.

The President threatened to have UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Agnes Callamard arrested and prosecuted after supposedly prejudging him without proper investigation.

Callamard recently visited Manila and criticized the Duterte administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs that resulted in over a thousand violent deaths.

The UN official also backed a statement by a drug abuse expert Carl Hart claiming there was no evidence shabu use leads to violence or causes brain damage.

Hart’s statement debunked Duterte’s repeated claim that constant use of shabu shrinks the brain.

“If you want to testify against me, you must be under oath, including the rapporteur. If you want to state your charges, be under oath because if there is anything false or a lie there, I will go after you,” the President said over his new television program Friday night.

"And I will see to it that you’ll go to jail first. Talagang hahatakin, even if you are a foreigner, I don’t know if you enjoy diplomatic advantage. But again, pagka ginawa mo ‘yan dito, I will arrest you. You are committing perjury,” she said.

The President has rejected Callamard’s claims that shabu does not damage the brain, saying users of illegal drugs have actually become deranged and committed heinous crimes.

He pointed out that 77,000 Filipinos died from drug-related crimes in the past several years.

Duterte said by insisting shabu use is harmless, his critics were basically suggesting that the drug suspects were supposedly killed "for nothing."

Duterte said Callamard was welcome to visit the country again but he would not pay any attention. He said she was ‘crazy’ to think he would undergo an investigation when she has already made a premature judgment about shabu use.