Monday, February 19, 2007 Slay case v. Ampatuan to be probed in N. Mindanao By Rhodamae M. Hernandez
THE Department of Justice issued a department order to reinvestigate the murder case filed against Mohammad Ampatuan Banarin, who is accused of killing a young man inside The Venue compound in 2002.
Prosecutors of Northern Mindanao were the ones ordered to do the reinvestigation.
Department Order 68 created the panel of prosecutors composed of Regional State Prosecutors Jaime Umpa, Corazon Llandoral and Marlyn Barola-Uy who are all based in Cagayan de Oro.
This after the City Prosecutor's Office inhibited from the reinvestigation of the case of murder to reduce this to homicide.
Chief City Prosecutor Raul Bendigo insists on the presence of treachery when the young Ampatuan allegedly shot and killed Carlo Asistido during a minor misunderstanding at Halo in The Venue.
Court record showed that the victim was shot dead at around 2:30 a.m. of July 28, 2002, after a night out with friends.
Witnesses pointed to Ampatuan as the one who killed Asistido after his original target, said to be another political scion from the Cotabato provinces, managed to elude being hit by the bullet.
