Duterte tells U.N. human rights expert to 'go to hell'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday slammed a United Nations human rights expert who issued a warning about his country's judicial integrity.

"Tell him not to interfere with the affairs of my country. He can go to hell," Duterte said of Diego Garcia-Sayan, a U.N. special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. "He is not a special person, and I do not recognize his rapporteur title."

Garcia-Sayan was critical of the ouster of the Philippines' chief justice, Maria Lourdes Sereno, whom Duterte has publicly labeled his "enemy" because she voted against policies Duterte supports. Her removal has created "a climate of intimidation" among the court's justices, Garcia-Sayan charged.

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Duterte is best known for encouraging thousands of extrajudicial murders of suspected drug dealers as part of his controversial war on drugs.