THE HAGUE – A Dutch court heard defense arguments yesterday for dropping murder charges against Philippine rebel leader Jose Maria Sison, and said it would rule next week on whether to continue the case, his lawyer said.
Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, has denied involvement in the killings of two political opponents in Manila in 2003 and 2004, which Dutch prosecutors claim he ordered.
Defense lawyer Victor Koppe said the judges “were very interested in the arguments and they want to take a full week to consider."
Koppe saw that decision as positive. “He has a good chance,” the lawyer said.
Sison
was arrested Aug. 28 in Utrecht, where he has lived in self-imposed
exile for 20 years.
In
Manila, meanwhile, National Security adviser Norberto Gonzales said
Sison’s rights are being honored by the Dutch government and that
allegations of maltreatment are just “propaganda.”
He
said government is giving “extra safety arrangements” for Dutch
officials in view of possible retaliatory acts from the NPA.
He
also downplayed the call of former US attorney general Ramsey Clark
for Sison’s release, saying it is not the official stand of the
United States government
State
prosecutor Geronimo Sy said Sison’s lawyers have no right to
question the authority of the Dutch government to arrest Sison
because their client, by seeking refuge in The Netherlands, showed he
trusts Dutch laws.
“He
has been there since 1989, so 18 years na siyang nakatira doon. Kung
wala kang bilib doon sa host government ay dapat wala na siya doon
being a principled man that he is," Sy said at the weekly
Talakayan Sa Isyung Pulis media forum.
Sy
said under the Dutch judicial system, a person who has been accused
of committing crimes in foreign countries can be liable in The
Netherlands.
A
Dutch court ordered Sison, who was arrested Aug. 28, to be held for
14 more days, giving prosecutors more time to investigate Sison’s
alleged involvement on the murder cases of Kintanar and Tabara, both
his former allies.
Based
on the Dutch Embassy’s statement, Sison, 68, was arrested in
Utrecht by Dutch police to face criminal charges for his involvement
in assassinations that took place in the Philippines.
Sison
is a founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed
branch, the New People’s Army, which has been fighting for years
against consecutive governments in Manila, the Dutch statement said.
Sison
has been living in The Netherlands since 1987.
He
had applied for a political asylum but he was not granted one. He
could not be deported because his life would allegedly be endangered
upon his arrival in the Philippines.
