Africa-Press – Mauritius. ollowers of US matters would be familiar with the expression “I plead the fifth” meaning the fifth amendment to the US constitution allowing any citizen to remain silent under questioning by police.
Here too that right to remain silent under questioning is enshrined in our Constitution and is absolute. However, says Lex, a case is not always determined by the silence of an accused but on evidence presented and the courts may draw their own inferences from the silence of the accused person.
* Three provisional charges relating to criminal defamation, diffusing false news, and breach of the Information and Communication Technologies Act have been pressed against the ex-CEO of Mauritius Telecom (MT), following the case lodged by the Prime Minister.
Mr Sherry Singh is being interrogated by the Central CID in that connection, and he has apparently chosen to remain silent to certain questions put to him by the police.
What is the meaning of ‘you have the right to remain silent’, and is this a constitutional right? When a person is arrested on suspicion of having committed an offence, he has to be informed of the charge and told that he has the right to be assisted by a lawyer.
The most important aspect of the procedure when the police want to question him is that he must be told that he has the right to remain silent or talk.
It is a constitutional right on account of the concept of the presumption of innocence which means than an accused has the right to remain silent as it is for the prosecution to prove the case against him.
* What’s the reasoning behind this constitutional right? The reasoning is that it is for the State to prove the elements of an offence against an accused.
This is so because the State has an armada of means to investigate and gather evidence. The burden is on the prosecution to prove the case against the accused party.
If the burden were on the accused, it would be most difficult if not impossible for him to gather evidence to establish his innocence. * Is the right to remain silent extremely important to use when you are detained, arrested, and interrogated?
Yes and no. A suspect has the absolute right to remain silent. However, if this right is also exercised during trial, a judge or magistrate would have the right to take that into consideration when determining the case against the accused.
* What happens if a suspect invokes his right to remain silent? Does it put an end to all police questioning? Yes. The police will record that fact in a statement and will inform the court in an eventual trial.
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