No Case against Philippines jailed Opposition Senator Leila De Lima?

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Branch 205 of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court of the Philippines on Tuesday heard a prosecution witness say that Opposition Senator Leila De Lima who has been imprisoned by the Duterte regime for four years has no connection to drug trading in the matter of her arrest and detention.

Last September,  financial investigator Artemio Baculi Jr. from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) testified for the prosecution in De Lima’s ongoing trial. The witness told the Court that Leila De Lima was not involved in any suspicious transactions that would link her to the illegal drug trade.

by Melissa Hemingway

Opposition Senator Leila De Lima In her own words, Opposition Senator Leila De Lima is defiant in defence of Filipinos human rights. Photo Credit: Twitter account of @SenLeiladeLima
Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine

On 17 August 2016, the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte called one of his opposition critics “an immoral woman” and alleged that Opposition Senator Leila De Lima had been having an affair with her driver, Ronnie Dayan, who Duterte also alleged was De Lima’s collector for drug protection money when she was the Justice secretary. In four years of her imprisonment the prosecution has struggled to make a case.

Duterte Critic Taken into Custody

Speaking to journalists in August 2017, before armed police in flak jackets detained her, Senator Leila de Lima insisted she was innocent of the drug trafficking charges that could see her jailed for life. Photo Credit: File Photo courtesy office of Senator Leila De Lima. 2017.