Three policemen were convicted this week for the murder of a 17-year-old student accused of selling drugs. It was the first known wrongful death conviction related to the deadly drug war fueled by Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
A Philippine court found three police officers guilty on Thursday of killing a student they alleged was a drug dealer, in the first known such conviction under the president’s deadly crackdown on drugs.
Regional Trial Court Presiding Judge Rodolfo Azucena Jr. ruled the officers murdered Kian Loyd delos Santos during a raid in Caloocan city’s slums in the Manila metropolis last year. It rejected the policemen’s claim that the 17-year-old fired back while resisting arrest.
The court sentenced the officers, Arnel Oares, Jeremias Pereda, and Jerwin Cruz, to be imprisoned for up to 40 years without parole, although they can appeal. Aside from the prison term, the policemen, who appeared in court in handcuffs and yellow detainee shirts, were ordered to pay damages to Santos’s impoverished family.
President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown, which has left thousands of suspects dead, reportedly in clashes with the police, has alarmed Western governments and United Nations rights experts and horrified human rights watchdogs. The volatile president has stressed he does not condone extrajudicial killings, although he has repeatedly threatened drug suspects with death and has assured police he would back them up in ways that human rights watchdogs say have encouraged law enforcers to act with impunity.
„A shoot first, think later attitude can never be countenanced in a civilized society. Never has homicide or murder been a function of law enforcement,“ Judge Azucena said in his ruling.
