November 18, 2023 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Former vice president Leni Robredo introduced former senator Leila de Lima to a representative from Amnesty International during their reunion in Naga, Camarines Sur on Thursday morning.
Amnesty International is an independent worldwide organization working against human-rights violations and for the release of persons imprisoned for political or religious dissent.
In footage posted on social media, De Lima was seen having a short chat with the Amnesty International representative.
On Monday, De Lima was allowed to post bail by the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court for her final drug case. She was arrested and detained in February 2017. So far, she has been acquitted in two out of three drug cases.
“I am happy that justice has finally prevailed and we can now be with Sen. Leila. This is a victory not only for her, but for our people,” Robredo said.
In the 2022 national elections, when Robredo ran for president, De Lima was one of her senatorial candidates but both lost.
‘Free to help ICC’
De Lima is free to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s investigation on the previous administration’s war on drugs, but she should not expect the Philippine government’s cooperation, according to Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra.
“Senator De Lima is now a private individual, and nothing prevents any private person from assisting the ICC investigator in pursuing his investigation in the Philippines. So that’s her privilege if she wants to help the ICC,” Guevarra said in an interview at the Senate.
But Guevarra maintained the Philippine government’s position that the justice system in the country is working and that the ICC has no business intervening in the country’s affairs.
Allowing the ICC to investigate the drug war killings is a “slap” in the country’s own justice system, the solicitor general added.
“The only problem is, they should not expect any cooperation – direct and actual – from the government, because the Republic of the Philippines has maintained its question of jurisdiction,” he added.
The Philippine government recently lost its bid before the ICC appeals chamber to stop the ICC prosecutor from resuming its probe into the extrajudicial killings of mostly poor drug users allegedly committed by the state in the narcotics crackdown of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
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