An advocacy group supporting families and friends of political prisoners has asked the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and other international human rights bodies to look into the "tanim-baril" (literally: planting of gun on a person) incident involving a political prisoner's wife in Negros Occidental.
In a statement, Karapatan said that Leon Charita, a National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) member, has been detained for four years now at the district jail in San Carlos City.
Kapatid said Leon was arrested at a police checkpoint with seven other activists back in September 2019 for alleged illegal possession of firearms and explosives. However, Kapatid said that they only carried leaflets and a sound system to commemorate the 1985 Escalante Massacre.
His wife, Pertinisa Jereula Charita, 55, is one of those who met with United Nations Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan when the latter visited the Visayas last January.
At about 1 p.m. on Feb. 13, Karapatan said that Pertinisa herself was arrested when a jail guard allegedly found a small caliber .22 pistol inside her bag during a search procedure.
The advocacy group said that Pertinisa was accompanied by her children and grandchildren during the visit as they were visiting Leon to celebrate his birthday. Kapatid lamented the "tanim-baril" incident and called it a new "modus operandi to harass the families of political prisoners."
"This case is utterly preposterous, and the only rationale behind it is political persecution in retaliation for participating in the submission of cases to the UN Rapporteur in Cebu City last month. Because why would a wife risk bringing a gun into a jail, knowing visitors undergo security checks upon entry, and which would likely lead to her own arrest?” said Fides Lim, Kapatid spokesperson.
“According to relatives, the San Carlos jail is especially notorious for being unreasonably more strict than other jails, such that inmates from different cells are not allowed to even talk to each other. There is no logical reason why Pertinisa would jeopardize her own freedom and the safety of her own family by bringing a gun into the facility,” Lim also said.
Kapatid demanded the dismissal of what it called the "trumped-up" case against Pertinisa and called for her immediate release. "She is not a wrongdoer but the victim of the real wrongdoers who want to punish her for speaking the truth about the pervasive reality of human rights abuses and repression under the guise of counterinsurgency efforts," Lim stressed.