Photo from Leila de Lima’s Facebook page
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 12 May) — The Human Rights Watch (HRW) applauds the acquittal of former senator Leila de Lima of a drug charge filed against her by the government of then president Rodrigo Duterte.
In a statement Friday, Phil Robertson, HRW Deputy Asia Director said the acquittal “demonstrates against the bogus, harassing nature of the charges against de Lima. Human Rights Watch maintains that Leila de Lima should be freed immediately.
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The decision, handed down by regional trial court judge Abraham Alcantara is the second acquittal in the three cases filed against the former senator.
Another case is being tried before a separate court and de Lima has filed a petition for bail which is still under consideration, HRW said.
The group urged the court to grant bail to de Lima, who has been in police detention for more than six years.
Key witnesses have recanted, saying they were coerced to provide false testimony against her, HRW noted.
“The cases against de Lima are part of former president Duterte’s vindictive campaign to destroy her for daring to investigate human rights he committed while mayor of Davao City and, later, as president of the Philippines,” it said.
In a statement posted on her Facebook page after Friday’s acquittal, de Lima said: “I had no doubt from the very beginning that I will be acquitted in all the cases the Duterte regime has fabricated against me based on the merits and the strength of my innocence.”
“That’s already two cases down, and one more to go. I am of course happy that with this second acquittal in the three cases filed against me, my release from more than six years of persecution draws nearer. I am extremely grateful to all those who stood by and prayed for me all these years,” she added.
De Lima was arrested in 2017 and accused of taking drug money shortly after announcing a Senate investigation into Duterte’s “war on drugs,” which local and international human rights group said left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.
As then chair of the Commission on Human Rights, de Lima also conducted an investigation into alleged extrajudicial killings in Davao City during the time of Duterte as city mayor.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is in the process of conducting an investigation into the “drug war.”
Government officials claimed the ICC no longer has jurisdiction over the Philippines, as the country had withdrawn from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the court.
But the ICC said that based on the treaty it maintains jurisdiction over cases that happened before the withdrawal took effect.
(H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)
