Slain lawyer Anthony Trinidad. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) on Thursday strongly condemned the killing of a lawyer who was being linked “baselessly and maliciously” with the New People’s Army (NPA), saying this proves the perceived dangers of being associated “arbitrarily” with the communist group.
The lawyers’ group condemned “in the strongest terms” the killing of Attorney Anthony Trinidad, who was killed by unidentified motorcycle-riding gunmen in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental on Tuesday.
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“This only proves as well that the perceived dangers of being arbitrarily, maliciously and baselessly red-tagged are neither imaginary nor contrived, but constitute real threats to life, liberty and security,” the NUPL said in a statement.
The group noted that the death of Trinidad adds to the 40 lawyers, judges and prosecutors who have been killed since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016.
“This is a manifestation of the culture of impunity that the administration has been perpetuating,” the NUPL said.
“We call for justice for the death of Atty. Anthony Trinidad. Stop the attacks against lawyers!” /jpv