Still detained despite case dismissal, journalist’s lawyers plan next moves to free her
MANILA, Philippines — An editor of an alternative news site is still in jail two weeks since a Mandaluyong court junked charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against her, leaving her legal team planning their next moves to free her.
For now, Kristina Conti, one of the lawyers from the Public Interest Law Center representing Lady Ann “Icy” Salem, said they are just waiting for the 15-day reglementary period to lapse before a court’s decision becomes final before taking any further action.
Conti said they expect the court to come out with a release order for Salem by today or Monday. But if nothing comes by then, she said there would be hell to pay.
“By next week, we would fiercely clamor [for her release] because there is no legal reason, by whatever stretch of legal argument would there be basis to hold Icy in detention further,” Conti said partly in Filipino in an online protest.
One way for Salem to get her out of jail, Conti said, is asking the court to resolve the case, while another option would be to go to a higher court to ask for relief.
She said it is also possible for them to file a habeas corpus petition, where they would argue that there is no legal basis to detain Salem any further as they believe that she had been acquitted of charges.
Their last ditch effort, Conti said, would be to sue the court and the jail.
Currently, Salem’s lawyers are pressing the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Branch 209 to issue a release order for the journalist after the prosecution moved to block her release, arguing that the ruling is not yet final.
“For us, the ruling became final on the day that the charges against Icy were dismissed,” Conti said. “In our system, when you are acquitted, your acquittal is final and your release is final too … because there are no charges against you, there is no evidence, and there is no need to detain you even if there’s an appeal.”
Along with Salem, charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against labor organizer Rodrigo Esparago were also junked by Mandaluyong RTC Branch 209 Presiding Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio. He, like Salem, is still detained at the Mandaluyong City Jail.
Salem, Esparago and five other activists were all arrested on Dec. 10, 2020, when the world marked International Human Rights Day.
All of them were slapped with illegal possession of firearms and explosives charges after authorities raided their residences and offices by virtue of search warrants issued by Quezon City trial court Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert, who also issued search warrants that resulted in the arrests of dozens of activists in Negros and Manila in 2019.
The seven, dubbed as “HRDay 7,” are just among the latest activists jailed over the same charge of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Rights group Karapatan earlier said that more than 400 political prisoners arrested under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte face the same charges. — with reports from Kristine Joy Patag
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