To: Department of Justice and Philippine National PolicePETITION FROM FRIENDS OF SATUR OCAMPO IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Free Satur Ocampo! End Political Repression!
We, parliamentarians and friends from different countries, express grave concern and great alarm over the arrest of Rep. Satur Ocampo, Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, who is currently campaigning for reelection under the opposition party Bayan Muna.
We fail to comprehend why a warrant of arrest was issued based on a criminal case for murder committed 22 years ago at the time when Satur was in prison during the martial law regime of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. We are also concerned why a 22 year-old case was resurrected during the campaign period at the time when Satur, a staunch critique of the government, is heading the campaign of his party for reelection. We are alarmed that Satur is not granted at least, his right to bail, since it is improbable that the evidence of his guilt is strong considering that the crime imputed is more than 2 decades old.
We are aware of the escalating political killings in the Philippines targeting members of opposition parties and government critiques. We were also informed of escalating harassment against them during the election period, and would like express our belief that opposition parties, including their leaders, must be allowed to campaign freely during the campaign period.
We express our deepest concern over these developments and urge the Philippine government to respect Saturs rights to due process. We urge the speedy release of Satur Ocampo from prison and that he and his party, and all opposition parties for that matter, be allowed to freely campaign. We call for a stop to the political killings and human rights violations in the Philippines.
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