Amnesty International on Thursday reiterated its urgent call for the Philippine authorities to immediately drop the fabricated charges against former Senator Leila de Lima, and ensure her immediate and unconditional release ahead of her sixth year in arbitrary detention.
“It is a travesty that Leila de Lima has endured six years in detention after bogus charges were brought against her in cases that have utterly collapsed. As witness after witness withdraws their testimony, the Marcos administration must put an end to her ongoing persecution,” said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Southeast Asia researcher for Amnesty International.
“I will not give the chief oppressor the satisfaction of being beaten,” de Lima, 63, told Al Jazeera in an interview, referring to former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The former senator has always been an outspoken critic of Duterte and his state-sanctioned crackdown on illegal drugs that rights groups say left thousands of, mostly poor, young men dead, the report said.
Since April 2022, several key witnesses have recanted their testimonies against de Lima, saying they were coerced and threatened by former government officials to fabricate allegations against her. These witnesses include Rafael Ragos, a former acting chief of the Bureau of Corrections, who said he was forced to “manufacture lies” by former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre and other senior officials, Amnesty International said.
Apart from having to endure prolonged detention, de Lima’s life was threatened when she was held hostage inside her detention cell on 9 October 2022 by a knife-wielding inmate as he was trying to escape. The suspect and his two companions were killed by the police, but there has been no further investigation into the incident, particularly the lapses in security that allowed the suspect to enter de Lima’s detention cell.
“The Marcos administration must ensure the immediate and unconditional release of de Lima and drop all charges against her. The authorities must also conduct a thorough, independent, transparent and effective investigation into the attacks against her. Those responsible for violations of her rights since her arrest, including her arbitrary detention, must be brought to justice in fair trials,” Chhoa-Howard said.
“De Lima should never have spent a day in prison, but instead she’s languished there for six years. The government must urgently give her the freedom and justice she deserves after such an appalling ordeal."