Philippines
Metro Manila
Inter-Parliamentary Union calls on PH authorities to drop drug case, release De Lima
Inter-Parliamentary Union calls on PH authorities to drop drug case, release De Lima
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Governing Council called on Philippine authorities to immediately drop the only remaining drug case against former senator Leila de Lima and release her from detention.
De Lima has been in detention in Camp Crame since February 2017 or for more than six years for drug cases filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Duterte administration.
Former senator Leila de Lima at the Muntinlupa Hall of Justice for a hearing. (Contributed photo)
Of the three cases filed against her, two were dismissed and only one is pending before a Muntinlupa Court.
The IPU is a “global organization of national parliaments” and its Governing Council recently adopted a decision calling for De Lima’s immediate release from detention.
In the decision, the IPU Governing Council said it “expresses grave concern that more than seven years after she was first charged, Ms. de Lima continues to languish in detention, even though the prosecution’s case has collapsed and the latest recantations of witnesses underscore the serious deficiencies that had already been identified early on in the evidence presented against her.”
It reiterated that it “remains convinced that the steps taken against Ms. De Lima came in response to her vocal opposition to the way in which the then President Duterte was waging war on drugs, including her denunciation of his alleged responsibility for extrajudicial killings; and points out in this regard the inexplicable length of the criminal proceedings, the repeated violation of the principle of the presumption of innocence, the timing of the criminal proceedings, the amendment of the charges, the reliance on testimonies of convicted drug traffickers, who were either given favorable treatment in return, subjected to physical intimidation, including death, in prison, or have an ax to grind against Ms. De Lima as a result of her efforts to dismantle their drug trafficking operations when she was Secretary of Justice, and the pressure exerted on other individuals to testify against her.”
The Governing Council said it “renews its call, in light of the foregoing, for Ms. de Lima to be released immediately and for the remaining criminal case against her to be dropped; and urges the authorities to take the necessary action forthwith.”
Recently, two key government witnesses declared that they will recant their testimonies against De Lima in the last remaining drug case in Muntinlupa.