Joma's lawyers to zero in on jurisdiction issue

Lawyers of Jose Ma. Sison, arrested founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), will zero in on the issue of jurisdiction as they prepare for Sison's next court hearing Friday (Dutch and Manila time). One of Sison's lawyers, Romeo Capulong, said Monday that they will question the Dutch government's authority to arrest Sison on the basis of two crimes that occurred in the Philippines. "We doubt how Sison can be implicated in crimes that occurred in the Philippines. Even the Philippine Supreme Court already nullified [these alleged crimes]," Capulong said in Filipino on dzRH radio. He was referring to the Philippine Supreme Court's decision last July 2 nullifying the omnibus charge of rebellion and all supposed evidence from 1968 to 2006 against Sison and 50 others. Dutch prosecutors were quoted in earlier reports as saying that it was a crime under their laws to order murders, even those carried out or hatched in other countries. Capulong argued the supposed evidence cannot be used again against Sison in any new charge. The Dutch government arrested Sison in The Netherlands last August 28, citing as basis the murders of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Capulong said they are now preparing for Sison's next court appearance on Friday, September 7 in Manila and The Hague. A Dutch court ordered Sison held for 14 more days so prosecutors can investigate allegations he ordered the murder of Kintanar and Tabara, his former allies. "The court will order his detention for 90 days or his release. Sison will be facing three judges on Friday," he said. However, he admitted that for now, Sison is permitted to meet with only one lawyer. Capulong also said the legal team will likely make an argument that Sison is a "genuine revolutionary" who was persecuted by the Philippine government. "Even genuine revolutionaries seeking real change through peaceful means are persecuted as terrorists or allies of terrorists," he said. Sison, 68, was arrested Tuesday in the town of Utrecht, where he has lived for 20 years. The Dutch police swept through the office of his National Democratic Front (NDF) and through at least seven other apartments, seizing computer hard drives, discs, files and books and questioning his aides. No one else was arrested. - with a report from AP, GMANews.TV