Individual officers must be held accountable for their criminal actions: Husnu Suoodh

Lawyer and columnist Husnu Suoodh has stated that individual officers of Maldives Police Service (MPS) and Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) must be held accountable for their criminal actions.

In his column in Mihaaru News, Husnu Suood said that another individual or an agency cannot be held accountable for criminal actions of individual actions. The lawyer had quoted principles of Islamic Shariah in answering pressing questions regarding current crisis and the involvement of Police and Armed Forces in this crisis.

Husnu Suood had highlighted on the speech made by Defense Minister Adam Shareef over the Parliament proceedings in July. In the leaked audio, the Defense Minister had claimed that individual officers will not be prosecuted.

Suood said that in the event accidental damage was caused by an officer of Police or Armed Forces while carrying out their mandate, the employer can be held accountable to that. However, if the charges were criminal in nature, then the responsibility must be borne by the individual officer.