Joma mocks Duterte for ignorance of international law

Exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison scoffed at President Rodrigo Duterte for his "ignorance" of international law over his threat to arrest him with the help of the Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization).

"Interpol cannot arrest me because I am a recognized political refugee," Sison said in a social media post.

"Duterte and his military nincompoops are just doing psywar about something that they do not know anything about. They merely expose their ignorance of international law by repeatedly yakking that I am subject to extradition by Interpol," Sison added.

The reaction came after the Philippine National Police announced it has coordinated with the Interpol for his arrest.

On August 28,  a Manila court issued a warrant of arrest against Sison and more than 30 individuals connected to a case for the 2006 discovery of a mass grave in Inopacan, Leyte that purportedly contained the bones of victims of the alleged purging by the New People's Army in the 1980s.

Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 has recommended no bail for the accused.

Sison insisted he is protected by the Refugee Convention and by the European Convention on Human Rights.  He said there is also no extradition treaty between the Netherlands and the Philippines, that would provide a legal framework for the return of fugitives between countries.

"The charge is invalid and cannot pass the test of due process in the Netherlands. I have my rights to be informed of the charge, to have counsel and to ask for judicial review," he said.

Sison reiterated the charges were fabricated, adding it was impossible for him to participate in the 1985 incident because he was under maximum security detention and had no authority in the CPP and the New People's Army.

"My points here are sustained by previous court decisions in the Netherlands at the highest level of the judicial system," he added. —LDF, GMA News