Former senator Leila de Lima attends the hearing for the prosecution to present rebuttal evidence against her. | File photo from Atty. Leila de Lima’s office
MANILA, Philippines— Following former senator Leila de Lima’s acquittal in one of two remaining drug-related cases against her, global human rights movement Amnesty International urges the Marcos administration to hold accountable “those responsible for her arbitrary detention,” asserting that charges against the senator are “bogus.”
“The partial acquittal of prisoner of conscience and human rights defender Leila de Lima was long overdue. While justice has been slow for her, it follows years of arbitrary detention and other human rights violations she has had to endure,” said Amnesty International’s interim Deputy Regional Director for Research Montse Ferrer in a Friday statement.
“Since her arbitrary detention in 2017, Amnesty International and many other civil society groups have maintained that the charges against Leila de Lima are bogus and the result of the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression. She should not have spent a single day in jail, and it is now time to provide adequate reparations for the human rights violations she has suffered,” she added.
Amnesty International stressed in its statement that “the charges against her were fabricated and that the testimonies by witnesses against her were manufactured,” reiterating that de Lima was arrested after seeking investigation into the former administration’s drug war.
Ferrer pressed authorities to swiftly rescind the remaining case against de Lima, as court proceedings against her in the last six years have been marked by “undue delays” such as changes in judges and prosecution witnesses’ failure to appear in court, according to Amnesty International.
“We urge the authorities to also quash the remaining drug case and to ensure that her application for temporary freedom in this pending case is processed speedily and fairly. The authorities must not delay her release any longer and allow her to be reunited with her family, friends and supporters after six long years,” said the research director.
“Beyond Leila de Lima’s long-overdue release, the Marcos administration must work towards holding accountable those responsible for her arbitrary detention, which clearly violated her rights to liberty, presumption of innocence and other fair trial guarantees,” Ferrer added.
With Leila de Lima’s acquittal, Amnesty International also maintained that de Lima’s detention— defined as “arbitrary” by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2018— is symptomatic of a larger problem of human rights impunity that plagues the nation.
“These violations include killings, threats and harassment of political activists, human rights defenders, members of the media and other targeted groups. Recent similar cases have also been recorded during the Marcos administration, including the October 2022 murder of journalist Percy Lapid and the killing of two activists in Negros province in November 2022,” cited the global rights movement.
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