Peasant women group calls for release of Amanda Echanis

A peasant women group on Tuesday trooped to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to call for the release on humanitarian grounds of Amanda Echanis, daughter of the slain peasant leader Randall Echanis.

The Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women and Free Amanda Echanis Movement (FAEM) said Echanis was arrested in December 2020, less than a month after giving birth, after she was “preposterously charged” with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and illegal possession of explosives charges.

Echanis is currently detained at the Cagayan Provincial Jail in Tuguegarao City.

“After five years of incarceration, our call for her unconditional and immediate release is legitimate as she was a victim of political persecution by the past regime,” Amihan national chairperson Zen Soriano said in a statement.

“She is among other political prisoners who were victimized by the past and present corrupt Marcos regime’s counter-insurgency policies, which is a scourge to all poor sectors in the country fighting for basic rights,” she added.

Soriano said the group will continue to call for her release and the release of all political prisoners.

“We will uphold freedom and democracy, and oppose the political persecution of activists during the past regime and under Marcos,” she said.—AOL, GMA Integrated News