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3 US senators call for De Lima's full exoneration after dismissal of one drug case


Three United States senators have called for Senator Leila de Lima's full exoneration from the drug charges filed against her after a Muntinlupa City court junked one of her three cases.

In a joint statement posted on Twitter, Senators Edward Markey, Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy reiterated that De Lima has been "unjustly detained" on "politically-motivated charges."

"While we are pleased that one of the three illegitimate charges against Senator De Lima has been dropped, it is clearly not enough," the US senators said.

The Muntinlupa Regional Court earlier this week dismissed the drug case against De Lima and a certain Jose Adrian Dera by granting her demurrer to evidence — a pleading seeking the dismissal of the case due to weak prosecution evidence.

The court said the prosecution failed to establish evidence that De Lima conspired with Dera in the alleged illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison during her stint as secretary of the Department of Justice.

According to the three US senators, the Duterte administration "wrongfully" detained De Lima "because she is willing to speak out and stand up against the egregious abuses of the government."

"We will continue to hold the Duterte government responsible for its abuses until Senator De Lima is released, all of the fabricated charges against her and other prisoners of conscience are dismissed, and the victims of President [Rodrigo] Duterte's campaign of abuse against the Filipino people have obtained justice," they added.

De Lima, who has denied the accusations against her, has been detained since February 2017.

Duterte, in December 2019, barred Leahy and Durbin from entering the Philippines after the two introduced the provision in the United States 2020 federal budget prohibiting the entry to US of Philippine government officials involved in De Lima's detention. —KBK, GMA News

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