Karapatan on Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256’s denial of de Lima bail petition
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS STATEMENT
07 June 2023
Reference:
Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Secretary General, +63917-3162831
Karapatan Public Information Desk, +63918-9790580
On Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256’s denial of de Lima bail petition
Karapatan decries the denial of former Sen. Leila de Lima’s petition for bail at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 256, as yet another form of injustice against de Lima, six years into her imprisonment for trumped up drug charges.
In many of the other cases she faced, prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimonies, citing coercion by government authorities. We have no doubt that in this last existing case against de Lima, the Bilibid inmates who accused her of running the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prisons are similarly compromised.
It should always be said that these cases were driven by former President Duterte vengeful retaliation on de Lima’s attempts to hold him accountable for the extrajudicial killings in relation to the Davao death squad’s operations and to the sham drug war during the Duterte administration.
As such, it is unacceptable and enraging that de Lima has been detained for such baseless and politically motivated charges for six years, and her recent attempt to be released by questioning the weakness of evidence in these charges through her bail petition is frustrated.
We insist on our call for the immediate release of former Sen. Leila de Lima, as one of the human rights defenders and leaders of the political opposition persecuted by the Duterte regime. Every day of her continuing detention, just like that of the more than 700 political prisoners at present, is a day of injustice against her.
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publi...@karapatan.org
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.