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By Frank Lloyd Tiongson, Correspondent
Exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison, in a
teleconference with media late Monday, accused the Arroyo
administration of pushing the Dutch government to revive his murder
case junked earlier in The Netherlands.
Over the weekend, the Dutch Public Prosecution
Service announced it would continue up to mid-2008 to investigate
Sison’s alleged involvement in the killing of former communist
leaders Romulo Kintanar in 2003 and Arturo Tabara in 2004.
Now based in the city of Utrecht, The
Netherlands, the 67-year-old Sison said he suspects a possible
“connivance among three governments”—the Philippines, The
Netherlands and the United States—in the sudden revival of his
case.
“The malicious charge of inciting murder is a
pure political fabrication of the Arroyo regime in a scheme to
suppress my freedom of thought and expression, and to pressure the
Negotiating Panel of the NDFP [National Democratic Front of the
Philippines] to capitulate,” he said.
A Dutch judge ruled on November 21 to close the
preliminary investigation on the September 13 decision of The Hague
District Court dropping the charges against Sison for lack of
evidence. On October 3, 2007, the Dutch Court of Appeals upheld the
decision of the district court on the lack of prima facie evidence
against Sison.
The Dutch appellate court ruled further that the
charge may be politically motivated, casting doubt on the
reliability of witnesses, and the capability of Sison and his
lawyers to cross-examine witnesses in the Philippines where human
rights violations take place.
In reviving his case, Dutch prosecutor J.S. de
Vries claimed that the examining judge has done a grievous wrong by
declaring the “untimely closure of the preliminary
investigation” of Sison’s case of inciting to murder his former
comrades.
On Monday, Sison said he is confident on the
immediate resolution of his revived cases in The Netherlands.
He cited a July 2007 ruling of the Philippine
Supreme Court nullifying the charge of rebellion and other crimes
against him and 50 other people, including some members of Congress,
civil society leaders, and anti-Arroyo military officers.
Sison has been continuously seeking political
asylum in The Netherlands since 1988, even while the Philippine
government has cancelled his passport while abroad. He is currently
based in Utrecht, where he serves as a chief political consultant of
the NDFP negotiating panel.
Upon his inclusion in the US’ list of
suspected terrorists in 2002, Sison claimed that “the Dutch
government followed suit without any judicial basis and subjected me
to punitive measures, including the freezing of bank account,
termination of social benefits, public naming and shaming as
‘terrorist,’ restrictions on travel and so on.”
Peace talks
Referring to the resumption of peace talks,
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye on Tuesday said, “The Presidential
Adviser on the Peace Process should be the one to address this
issue. That is after Jose Maria Sison said they have been sending
feelers to government asking for the resumption of the talks.”
“I believe they were the ones who broke away
from the peace process, the peace talks and they have shied away
from this by imposing very impossible conditions,” he added.
Bunye said the government is always willing to
go back to the negotiating table at right environment, adding that
“one of 10-point agenda of the President is to terminate
hostilities, but how to go about that without compromising sensitive
issues hampers the talk.”
The Arroyo government suspended peace talks with
leftist revolutionaries in 2003.
-- With Angelo S. Samonte
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