IFJ Fears Further Delay in Ampatuan Massacre Trials

July 21, 2011

IFJ Fears Further Delay in Ampatuan Massacre Trials

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in voicing concerns over further potential delays to the Ampatuan Town Massacre trials in the Philippines.

Firdausi Abbas, a lawyer for one of the key suspects in the massacre, suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, has reportedly proposed his client be eligible for “hospital arrest”, after being admitted to the Philippine Heart Center for a medical checkup.

Ampatuan will be held indefinitely at the medical facility while tests are conducted, despite reports that his condition was stabilising. Lawyer Harry Roque, representing some of the massacre victims’ families, has raised concerns about a “high-risk” detainee such as Ampatuan being held indefinitely in a low-security environment, according to local media reports.

Thirty-two journalists and media workers were among the 58 people killed in the massacre, in the southern Philippines province of Maguindanao on November 23, 2009.

Ampatuan has not yet been arraigned in the massacre trials, because of a case in the Court of Appeals, where he sought to be excluded from the group of 197 people charged with 57 counts of murder. The body of one further victim, Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay, has not been found.

Ampatuan’s admission to the Heart Center comes just two weeks after he confirmed he was willing to testify against his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr, and brother Andal Ampatuan Jr.

Philippines Justice Secretary Leila de Lima rejected his offer to be a state witness.

“The IFJ hopes that full security measures will be enforced for Zaldy Ampatuan’s hospital detention and that he will be returned to a high-security facility without unnecessary delay,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.

“For the families of the massacre victims, this is yet another frustrating turn of events in the trials, which have been marred by a series of seemingly unnecessary delays.”

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries

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