|
|
Friday, December 28, 2007
Trillanes asked RTC to dismiss case (2:53 p.m.)
MANILA -- Detained opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV yesterday asked the Makati regional trial court to dismiss the rebellion case against him and several other Magdalo officers for their participation in the November 29 Manila Peninsula Hotel stand-off.
"We are filing this motion for partial reconsideration in behalf of Senator Trillanes and 15 other Magdalo officers still detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame after the stand-off last month since the case filed by the Department of Justice has no legal basis," said Trillanes' counsel Ernesto Francisco after filing the motion at the sala of Makati RTc branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda.
Francisco said the stand-off did not constitute enough grounds for rebellion even when Trillanes denounced the Arroyo administration and called for the formation of a new government.
"Based on Supreme Court decisions, it cannot be said that the crime of rebelllion was commited on the occasion of the Manila Pen incident. That inciddent did not involve any armed public uprising or masses or multitudes involving crowd action or a vast movement of men or a complex net of intrigue and plots or a civil war on a bigger or lesser scale or an armed public uprising by a substantial number of rebels," said Francisco in the 60-page motion.
He said even Alameda in his resolution junking the case against the civilian personalities involved in the incident acknowledged the same fact.
"Judge Alameda in his order stated that "the gravemen of the crime of rebellion is an armed public uprising against the government. By its very nature, rebellion of essentially a crime of masses or multitude involving crowd action with political motive," he said. (AH/Sunnex) |
|
|
|
