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Thursday, December 13, 2007
DOJ: 3 blast suspects charged before they could recant
MANILA -- The Department of Justice (DOJ) has pulled a little surprise on three suspects in the November 13 bombing at the Batasan complex by filing criminal charges against them even before some of them could recant their statements.
Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong said he has issued a resolution as early as last week finding probable cause against accused Caidar Aunal, Adham Kusain, and Ikram Indama for multiple murder and obstruction of justice. The case was lodged before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
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Ong said the charges against Aunal, Kusain, and Indama were filed on Friday and that he based his resolution recommending the charges on the evidence submitted to the DOJ during the November 19 inquest of the three, which include the letter-complaint of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the statements of Indama and Kusain.
Ong said he decided not to resolve the multiple frustrated murder complaint that the police lodged against the three because the supporting documents for this had not been submitted during the inquest.
While multiple murder charges have been filed against Indama, Aunal, and Kusain before the Quezon City RTC, their preliminary investigation for the charge of multiple frustrated homicide will still continue at the DOJ. The panel of prosecutors has scheduled the next hearing on December 26 at 2 pm.
The filing of the criminal complaints in the trial court, thus rendered moot, the petition for habeas corpus lodged by the private lawyers of Aunal and Kusain before the Supreme Court on Monday.
Aunal and Kusain withdrew their previous statements given while under police detention alleging that Anak Mindanao party-list Representative Mujiv Hataman, his brother Jim Hataman, and former Basilan congressman Jerry Salapuddin were behind the Batasan blast that killed four persons, including Basilan Representative Wahab Akbar, and injured several others.
They claimed that they merely issued the statements to the police because they were threatened and severely tortured by their custodians. They further said that the statements they issued were executed without the assistance of a lawyer of their choice.
In the police complaint submitted to the DOJ during the November 19 inquest, they said Indama had admitted that he had been involved in the bombing that was intended to kill Akbar.
It was Indama, who planned to turn state witness, who claimed that the plan was hatched at the Greenbucks Grocery Store owned by Salapuddin, and that he also brought the motorcycle armed with the bomb to the House of Representatives to carry out the assassination plot.
On the other hand, former Tuburan, Basilan mayor Hajarun Jamiri, another suspect in the killing, had also recanted his statements implicating the Hataman brothers as the masterminds behind the blast, saying the statements he made to the police were made under duress.
Jamiri, who was charged with illegal possession of firearms before the Manila RTC, formalized his recantation before the DOJ and informed Ong that he plans to go home to Basilan in the light of the absence of evidence linking him to the explosion. He was granted by the court temporary liberty after posting a bail of P80,000.
"His affidavit of recantation was already affirmed before a fiscal in Muntinlupa. He just wanted to be sure that it was affirmed before the DOJ," said Ong. (ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (December 13, 2007 issue)
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