Prosecution camp: Andal Jr's acts of harassment reach int'l sphere

Maguindanao massacre prime suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr has taken his "acts of harassment" against the prosecution to international level when he filed contempt charges against a private prosecutor for appearing on an international cable channel. This was according to the camp of lawyer Harry Roque Jr., private prosecutor for the families of 15 of the 32 journalists killed in the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre. Andal Jr., through his lawyer Sigfrid Fortun, had filed contempt of court charges against Roque for allegedly talking about the merits of the multiple murder case in an interview with The History Channel in its special report titled "The Maguindanao Massacre" that was aired on Sept. 26, 2010. The accused said Roque, during the interview, violated at least five times the sub judice rules, which prevents any party in an ongoing case to give opinions or talk publicly on its merits. Ampatuan, a former Datu Unsay town mayor, also asked the court to order Roque's imprisonment and for him to pay P5,000. Fortun said that in the television interview, Roque alleged that Andal Jr. misused public funds and murdered 200 people with a chainsaw "as if it were a matter of fact," even calling the controversial clan members as "felons with established criminal records." [See story: Body sets probe for 200 more Maguindanao murders] "Indeed, the Ampatuans have just taken their fight against free expression to the international sphere," said lawyer Romel Bagares, executive director of Center for International Law (CenterLaw), which assists the families of the slain journalists. "History Channel airs programs to an international audience. What this new contempt charge wants really is to suppress information on the worst single attack on press freedom in known history from reaching that audience," Bagares added. According to Bagares, Roque currently faces two contempt charges before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court and a libel complaint before the Cotabato City Prosecutor’s Office. But Bagares maintained that the prosecution would not be "cowed by this baseless harassment." Bagares said Ampatuan's latest move only proved that he has an "over-all strategy" to harass prosecutors and witnesses. "By our count, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima has two contempt charges; lawyer Nena Santos, counsel for the Mangudadatus, two contempt charges; lawyer Prima Quinsayas, counsel for families of other journalists who perished in the carnage, one contempt charge," said Bagares. "What else do you make out of this?" Contempt charges Fortun earlier filed contempt charges against Quinsayas and a number of reporters covering the Supreme Court in relation to the disbarment case filed by the prosecution against him. The prosecution wanted Fortun disbarred for allegedly protecting his other client, clan patriarch Andal Sr., to evade arrest in November 2009. Fortun has since denied the allegation, adding that discussing the disbarment case in the media constituted a contempt of the courts. Another defense lawyer, Paris Real, has also filed contempt charges against Santos, Roque, and the Philippine Daily Inquirer for an article that quoted Real as saying the victims could have killed themselves or have died due to insect bites. Apart from father and son Andal Sr. and Andal Jr., four other Ampatuan clan members and 190 individuals composed of local policemen and supposed private militiamen are facing 57 counts of murder before the QC RTC Branch 221. Fifty-seven people, including 32 journalists, were killed on a hilly portion of Sitio Masalay in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town on Nov. 23, 2009, in a massacre considered as one of the worst in Philippine history. — LBG/RSJ, GMA News