MANILA, Philippines – Almost two weeks after a Muntinlupa court denied former senator Leila de Lima’s bid for temporary freedom, various experts from the United Nations (UN) issued a statement calling for her immediate release.

“We have long called for the immediate release of Leila de Lima,” the UN experts said in a press release dated June 16.

“The decision to deny bail comes after more than six years of arbitrary detention. It is high time for the administration of President Marcos Jr. to close this case once and for all, provide compensation and other reparations, and investigate the circumstances that allowed this to happen in the first place,” they added.

Among the UN experts who demanded De Lima’s release are Priya Gopalan, chair-rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

The experts also noted that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary detention found in 2018 that De Lima’s detention was arbitrary and “her deprivation of liberty was a result of her personal beliefs and public statements regarding extrajudicial killings in the Philippines during the administration of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.”

The same UN body also said in 2018 that De Lima’s detention came from her exercise of right to political participation, “and was imposed through a process that did not respect the basic guarantees of a fair trial.”

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De Lima faced three drug charges filed under Duterte’s administration. Two of the cases were already dismissed by the court: one in February 2021, and the other in May this year.

The detained former lawmaker faces one more drug charge. And, despite her acquittal in two of her cases, she will remain detained because her bail petition was denied by Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 256.

After the bail denial, the De Lima camp immediately asked the court to reconsider its decision, which denied De Lima’s bid for temporary freedom. Three of De Lima’s co-accused also filed three separate motions to inhibit, asking Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 256 Presiding Judge Romeo Buenaventura from handling the case.

In an order made public on June 16, Judge Buenaventura granted the motion to inhibit and inhibited himself from the case. De Lima’s only pending charge will now be re-raffled to other Muntinlupa court and will be handled by a different judge. – Rappler.com