Probe of Sison Case Extended

BY EMILY VITAL
Bulatlat
January 21, 2008 – 3:58pm

The Dutch prosecutor recently announced that the preliminary investigation of the case against Jose Maria Sison will be extended until the middle of the year.

Dutch Prosecutor J.S. de Vries’ claimed that the examining judge C.M. Derijks ‘has done something grievously wrong by declaring the untimely closure of the preliminary investigation of the case of inciting to murder of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara against Sison.

This information was based on press statements sent through email by Luis Jalandoni, chairperson of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiation Panel.

The examining judge ordered the closure of the preliminary investigation on Nov. 12, 2007. Earlier, the District Court of The Hague cited the insufficiency of evidence against Sison on its Sept. 13, 2007 decision. The Court of Appeals upheld the court’s decision for lack of prima facie evidence.

Jalandoni said that prosecutor De Vries failed to give substantive reasons to counter the two aforementioned court decisions.

Jalandoni said, “Apparently, the prosecutor is playing a role or doing a dirty political job assigned by powerful forces, like the Dutch and other governments to persecute and destroy Prof. Sison as well as the representation of the NDFP abroad…”

The NDFP panel chairman revealed that there are indications that the Dutch prosecutor intends to expand the charge of inciting to murder to a charge of war crimes.

In a separate statement sent through email, Sison expressed confidence that the charge would be dropped or if not that he would certainly win the case in court. He criticized the “malicious obsession of the US, Dutch and Manila governments” to persecute him. “It would seem as if my court victories were not deterrents but spurs on these governments to become more brutal and vicious,” he said. (Bulatlat.com)