Scores of NDFP consultants were killed in police raids. The others were charged with common crimes to hide the political motive behind their arrest and detention and to portray them as ordinary criminals. Their lawyers have maintained that the evidence against them were planted.
The petitioners maintained that public prosecutor Rosulo Vivero committed “prosecutorial misconduct when he knowingly used recycled and falsified evidence as basis to file multiple murder charges.”
Even without martial law, the Macapagal-Arroyo government has arrested and detained hundreds of activists. Worse, most political prisoners have been slapped with trumped-up criminal charges. BY RONALYN V. OLEA HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Bulatlat Human rights group Karapatan’s (Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights) records show that there are 218 political prisoners in the country…