The defendants claim that it was a rescue mission and will appeal the sentence
15 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
A court in Tagum city on the Philippine island of Mindanao has sentenced 18 defendants, including two well-known opposition politicians, lawmakers Satur Ocampo and France Castro, to prison terms ranging from four years and nine months to eight years and eight months for endangering a group of 14 indigenous Lumade minors during an offensive by the Alamara paramilitary group in 2018. Four Protestant priests have been acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The defendants have been convicted of violating Section 10(a) of the Special Protection of Children from Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act for transferring the children, who had been locked up in a school by the paramilitaries, Philippine media reported.
“The defendants’ actions endangered the minors (…). Due to their actions, the minors suffered an unnecessary risk in unsafe conditions,” explains the sentence, dated July 3 but published now. The sentence includes a fine of 20,000 pesos (313 euros) for moral and civil damages for each of the victims.
The defendants were charged with child abuse, kidnapping and human trafficking for taking the children from the Talaingod school in Davao del Norte. The last two charges were eventually dropped.
The accused claimed that they were part of a solidarity mission to assist the schools of the Lumade villages and their educators in the midst of the attack by the Alamara militia, an ally of the Armed Forces in their fight against the New Popular Army guerrilla group.
The minors were taken on foot for three hours along a dark and unsafe path on a journey in which they could have suffered an accident or been victims of attacks by paramilitaries or guerrillas, according to the sentence, which also denounces the preparation of these actions as an aggravating factor.
“UNFAIR SENTENCE”
Castro and Ocampo have criticized his “unjust conviction.” “This unjust conviction speaks volumes about the persecution of those who help and defend the rights of Luma children and the persistent attacks against Luma schools and communities,” they have criticized.
“Those responsible for the mandatory closure of schools and the threats and harassment have never been investigated,” they said, and have therefore called for the prosecution of the National Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict of former President Rodrigo Duterte. This campaign “ordered and orchestrated the attacks against Lumade schools,” according to the deputies.
“The solidarity mission of those days was transformed into a rescue mission because they were being pursued by the paramilitaries,” they added. Casto and Ocampo stressed that they will not hide behind the sentence and announced that they will appeal immediately.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers has condemned the court decision and denounced it as a false accusation, while the human rights group Karapatan has stressed that this ruling “shows that even the courts are being used as a weapon against human rights defenders.”
Meanwhile, the Philippine government’s national security adviser, Eduardo Año, welcomed the conviction because it dismantles any argument that it was a “rescue mission.”
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