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Groups picket Dutch embassy to demand Sison removal from terror list
News Release
April 6, 2009
The umbrella organization Bayan held a picket April 7 outside the
Dutch Embassy in Makati, calling on the Dutch Government to
move for the removal of the name of Prof. Jose Ma. Joma Sison
from the terrorist list of the Council of European Union.
The demand came after the Dutch Public Prosecutors Office
terminated the probe into the charge of inciting to murder case
against Sison for lack of evidence. The decision is the latest in a
string of events which saw the arrest and detention of Sison and
the ransacking of the offices of the National Democratic Front in
the Netherlands.
Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr. said that there is more
than sufficient legal basis for demanding that Prof. Sison be removed
from the European terrorist listing. The group said that the removal
from the terror list will be a positive boost for the peace negotiations.
Bayan said that the prosecution of Sison for murder charges was part
of an elaborate fishing expedition aimed at coming up with evidence
for the terrorist listing of Sison and other NDF personnel.
The Bayan leader explained the raids and the seizure of documents and
equipment from Sison and other NDF personnel were not just for the
purposes of gathering evidence for the charge of inciting murder but
were also aimed at gathering evidence for the bigger case of terrorism
against Sison and other personnel of the NDF. Any new evidence gathered
from the raid could be used to file additional charges against Sison, apart
from the charge of inciting murder.
In the case of terrorism hurled against Sison, the Dutch prosecutors,
despite all the items seized by the Dutch police, found no evidence to
warrant an additional charge. Despite their fishing expedition, the Dutch
prosecutors came up empty handed. They failed to find anything substantial
to link Prof. Sison to the crime of terrorism or to show that he leads the
New People's Army. The prosecutors failed to show any criminal liablity on
the part of Prof. Sison for indicents that happened in the Philippines. Since
there is no case of terrorism against Sison, it behooves for the Council of
European Union to remove his name from the terror list, Reyes said.
Bayan also assailed the Philippine government for its continuing support for
the terrorist listing of Sison.
The Philippine government must stop peddling the deceptive line that the
dropping of murder charges against Prof. Sison has nothing to do with his
inclusion in the EU terror list. The dropping of charges and the Dutch
prosecutors failure to file any additional charges against Sison have
shown that there is no crime of terrorism that can be imputed against
him, Reyes said.
The removal of Prof. Sison from the EU terror list will eliminate a major
stumbling block in the peace negotiations. The Arroyo government is
opposed to the removal of Prof. Sison because it wants to use the terror
listing as added pressure on the NDF and its Chief Political Consultant. In
fact it was the Arroyo government that had sought the terrorist listing of
Sison, the CPP and NPA from the US and European governments, Reyes
said. ###
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