After crucial witnesses testified that they falsified information, a Philippine court clears former Justice Secretary of

On Friday, May 12, 2023, the former opposition Senator Leila de Lima, that was taken into custody center, sobs as she walks out of the Muntinlupa jury trial in Muntinlupa, Philippines. De Lima received an acquittal by a Muntinlupa tribunal of one of her charges involving drugs, which she stated were fabricated by former President Rodrigo Duterte and his officials in an attempt to muzzle her criticism of his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.

A past Philippine opposition senator as well as justice minister was cleared of narcotics accusations on Friday by the appellate court, after significant witnesses retracted as well as admitted lying about her participation in illicit drug trade.

Leila de Lima, 63, stayed imprisoned, on the other hand, since she still faces one pending accusation.

De Lima has been jailed since 2017 on drug-related allegations she claims were cooked up by former President Rodrigo Duterte with his officials in order to silence her condemnation of his murderous drive on illicit substances. His actions resulted in the deaths of numerous primarily minor suspects that prompted an International Criminal Court examination as a potential assault against humankind.

Duterte, who was firm on de Lima's culpability, left power at the completion of his stormy six-year tenure in June last year.

In his verdict, the presiding judge Abraham Alcantara stated that the option he chose to release de Lima was driven by the recantation of a former senior police official.

"With out his statements, the vital connection to establishing conspiracy is concealed in substantial doubt," he concluded, "which justifies acquittal."

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She said she perceived exonerated as admirers mobbed her police escort and screamed "free Leila de Lima" outside the tribunal.

"Prayers answered, this is a magnificent day, the starting point of my justification." "I'd like to convey this message to my oppressors: you can't ever bury the truth," she declared as she was encircled by cops.

Prosecutor's eyewitness Rafael Ragos, the previous head of the Bureau of Corrections, repudiated an assertion that he transported funds from drug cartels to de Lima, claiming that he was pushed to make the assertion by the authorities of the government.

De Lima, through her lawyer, stated that she had been looking forth to being acquitted on every allegation. Considering her arrest, she has been detained in awaiting trial with no indictments.

"I have no insecurity that I will be exonerated in all of the lawsuit Duterte administration has made up against me simply because of the merits as well as firmness of my innocence." "That's two lawsuits done with one more to go," she clarified in a statement read aloud by her attorney, Boni F. Tacardon.

"Indeed, I am relieved that, with this second vindication in the three charges lodged against me, my discharge from more than six years of oppression is getting closer." I am eternally thankful to all who prayed and stood by me all these trying times'', she stated.


Jenny Young

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