Dutch prosecutor drags Joma to court again

Dutch prosecutor drags Joma to court again

By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

Jose Maria Sison will appear before a bench of three Court of Appeal judges in the Hague Wednesday in connection with the public prosecutor’s appeal against the district court's decision on September 13 to release him from detention.

The founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines was ordered released after more than two weeks of detention at the Scheveningen prison.

Wim de Bruin, a spokesman of the public prosecutor's office who confirmed previously to ABS-CBN that charges against Sison are not being dropped, said that Wednesday's hearing that begins at 3 p.m. (Netherlands time, 9 p.m. in Manila) will tackle their previous request for respondent's detention which was turned down by the court.

“The court of appeal will decide whether the decision of the [District] court stands or will be overruled.

In that case Mr. Sison will be detained again,” de Bruin told ABS-CBN.De Bruin said that all parties, the prosecution, defense and Sison will be present at the proceedings.

“The court of appeal is dealing with the Sison case but we don’t expect a decision today and maybe it will come tomorrow or later in the week,” de Bruin said.

If the appellate court decides in favor of Sison, he will remain free but de Bruin said it will not mean that the case is over.

“He will still be a suspect and the investigation will be continued. In the end there will be a court case,” de Bruin said.

Sison was arrested on August 28 on charges that he ordered the murders of Arturo Tabara, Romulo Kintanar and two other men in the Philippines.

According to Dutch law, Sison was detained pending investigation. The investigative judge decided on August to keep Sison in solitary confinement for another 14 days, noting that he believes Sison may opt to escape should he be given temporary release.

On September 7, the investigation procedure against Sison entered the second stage when the prosecution requested that he be detained a further 90 days.

The court, however, decided to set Sison free.

The ball and the right to appeal, meanwhile, are now in the prosecution’s court.

According to a source who explained the proceedings under Dutch law, this simply means that government lawyers are letting the law take its course.

Even if the appellate court of Appeal decides against Sison’s detention, the prosecution can still appeal. The source explained that the process does not stop because behind this sequence of events, there is such a thing as “principle of opportunity” in the Dutch justice system.

“They will only prosecute all the way up to the Supreme Court if necessary, if they see, if their calculation is that this has a liveable ground for surviving this trial. They don’t go to trial unless they have that guarantee. So to have that guarantee, the judge has no other recourse but to allow the prosecution to appeal because otherwise how will they get their evidence,” the source said.

“So it is a matter of letting the law take its course so at the end of the day whatever the judge decides there are still no winners or losers because the real fight has not yet begun. This is just a preliminary step. And the only logic of this is to give both parties the chance to prepare their case. This is really still in the preparation stage,” the source added.

The source also explained that the Dutch justice system is primarily based on paper.

“You can do anything as long as you have tangible evidence,” the source said.

The source also explained that Sison’s previous solitary confinement is a normal practice in the Netherlands and that it is not the type of solitary confinement accorded to convicted criminals.

“He’s not in solitary confinement as a punishment but as a matter of routine. In Dutch prison, it is customary to have one prisoner per cell and it is a matter of debate now that the prisons are crowded, they even have to pass a law to allow the prisoners to join cells,” the source explained.

Sison is not yet a prisoner in technical terms because he has not been convicted yet. He is only detained for investigative purposes and everything that is happening now is still in the preparatory investigative stage.

The court case has yet to begin.

In a related development, Sison’s sympathizers have scheduled another protest in front of the Palace of Justice to coincide with the start of the proceedings at the appellate court.

Filipinos from the different organizations such as Rice & Rights, Defend, Migrante, Liga ng Kabataang Pilipino, Makibaka and National Democratic Front as well as solidarity groups from different countries such as Turkey Arbeiders Ver., ATIK from Turkey, ICAD (International Organisations Against Disappearances), VEKSAN-AVEG-KON, ILPS (International League of People’s Struggle) and Anti-Imperialist Platform-Surinam previously held protests in all of Sison’s court appearances.

SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=94039