The Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) on Tuesday, Feb. 23, renewed its call for the release of Senator Leila De Lima who has been detained for almost four year now over drug charges.
(PHOTO BY JANSEN ROMERO / FILE PHOTO)
The alliance of groups against tyranny said the senator “has been held in unjust police detention despite the absence of any evidence against her.”
“Sen. De Lima has been denied not only her right to bail but all the rights of the free citizen that she deserves to be,” MAT said.
“Indeed, she is a victim of the most egregious case of vengeance and abuse of state power by the draconian regime of Rodrigo Duterte,” it added.
De Lima has been in police detention since Feb. 24, 2017
A Muntinlupa trial court on February 17 acquitted De Lima in one of the three drug cases.
In a statement, De Lima said: “To be acquitted even in just one case, in the time of Duterte, is a victory.”
Although they welcomed the decision, the movement said it “shows how the wheels of justice have become snail paced for human rights defenders, truth tellers, activists, opposition leaders and critics of the Duterte regime.”
“The Movement Against Tyranny stands in solidarity with Sen. De Lima and other political prisoners who have been unjustly charged and detained by the Duterte government on false and malicious charges,” the alliance said.
“We demand justice and freedom for all of them. We call for an end to impunity and the weaponization of the law,” it added.