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Some people have asked if the forum is still taking place, since Joma has
been released. But the reactionaries from the Philippine
Government, the US Government, and the Dutch Government are still working
on and fabricating this frame-up. So please spread the word, the
Forum will bring important news from the Free Jose Maria Sison Defense
Campaign!<br><br>
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<a href="http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news1_sept17_2007" eudora="autourl">
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news1_sept17_2007<br><br>
</a>Manila Standard Today<br>
Dutch probers arrive to build case on Sison<br><br>
A DELEGATION of investigators from The Netherlands arrived in Manila
yesterday to verify details and confer with local authorities on the case
of Jose Ma. Sison, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the
Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army.<br><br>
Six Dutch officials and lawyers arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport at 8:37 a.m. on board KLM flight 803 from Amsterdam, according to
a report by ABS-CBN network.<br><br>
The report said investigators Nicolaas Vogel, Titia Vos, Robert van der
Zwan, Lambert Elbertsen, Johannes Simits, and lawyer Icme Meissen would
meet with police and justice officials to discuss Sison’s case, which is
pending before a court in The Hague.<br><br>
The Dutch investigators are expected to gather more evidence against
Sison to strengthen the double murder case against him.<br><br>
Last week, Sison was ordered released due to lack of evidence by the
court after more than two weeks of detention on charges that he ordered
the murders of former comrades Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara in the
Philippines.<br><br>
Kintanar, a former communist leader, was murdered on Jan. 23, 2003, while
Tabara, another top NPA official, was assassinated along with his
son-in-law Stephen Ong on Sept. 26, 2004.<br><br>
Sison has denied involvement in the murders, saying that committing such
acts was against his moral and political principles.<br><br>
Sison’s legal team, meanwhile, is also considering a visit to the
Philippines to gather more evidence that they bellieve would prove his
innocence.<br><br>
Michiel Pestman, Sison’s lawyer, met with the self-exiled leader and his
wife, Julie, and Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the National Democratic
Front, in The Netherlands to discuss their next legal move.<br><br>
Pestman said Sison’s defense had now gained the upper hand after the
court ordered him released from prison following 17 days in solitary
confinement.<br><br>
But sources in The Hague said Sison’s prosecution would continue even
after his release for insufficient evidence.<br><br>
Sison was released before the mandatory 90-day period of confinement for
people accused of capital crimes last week.<br><br>
A spokesman of the Dutch prosecutor’s office also said that Sison
remained a suspect, adding the court’s decision to release Sison from
custody would be appealed.<br><br>
Sison was arrested on Aug. 30 by the Dutch International Crime
Investigation Team in Utrecht, where he has been living for two
decades.<br><br>
Dutch authorities have also accused Sison of alleged involvement in the
murder of hundreds of his comrades suspected of being military spies
during the ’80s.<br><br>
Sison had been living in The Netherlands illegally after his application
for political asylum was rejected in 1987.<br><br>
Dutch authorities did not deport him because of his claim that his life
would be endangered by his return to the Philippines.<br><br>
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