Court suspends Aquino trial in SAF 44 case

The Sandiganbayan Fourth Division has put on hold the graft trial of former President Benigno Simeon Aquino III in connection with the January 2015 massacre of 44 members of an elite police team sent to capture international terrorist Marwan in the town of Mamasapano, Maguindanao province.

The antigraft court division made the decision following the issuance last Feb. 7 by the Supreme Court (SC) of a temporary restraining order to stop the trial based on the insistence of an anticrime group that Aquino should face a more serious charge than graft in connection with the massacre.