We’re used to political murders here at home. So used to it, that perhaps it’s a bit of a shock to realize other cultures and countries are really frightened of political murder. A case in point are the Dutch, who were traumatized by two political murders in their country: Pim Fortuyn in 2002, and Theo van Gogh in 2004. Think of it, before tthe 2002 murder, the Dutch never had to deal with people killing other people because of politics.
The murders led to a lot of agonizing among the Dutch about the presence of Muslims in their society and how a minority of them seemed headed for a confrontation with the easygoing habits (sexual, political, etc.) of the Dutch. The authorities tightened up the laws and it is the result of these legal adjustments that seems to have made life increasingly difficult for Jose Ma. Sison since the early years of this decade.
At first, in response to the Sison arrest, there was much growling and saber-rattling by the CPP-NPA-NDF, but I think their comrades in Holland have warned them that the Dutch are very, very sensitive to allegations of political murder, and hostile to any exhibitions of extremism: and so, the rhetoric of the NDF has had to be moderated. Think of it: if so much as a Molotov cocktail got lobbed at the Dutch embassy in Manila, or any violence erupted, the consequences for the Sison case in Holland would be catastrophic. So now, the CPP-NPA-NDF at its moment of crisis has to stick to protests and nothing more violent than waving banners.
This is how serious the case seems to be: never mind that Danny Buenafe reported that the Dutch judge thought Sison might order more murders if released; the BBC reported Dutch prosecutors using the phrase “war crimes.” This phrase is not one used lightly in European courts, and it has a precise meaning for Western jurists. If Dutch prosecutors can describe the crimes with which Sison’s been charged in that manner {”war crimes”) then the decision by the Court to extend Sison’s period of detention is no surprise (and should get his lawyer and supporters very, very nervous). Indeed, as one Dutch blogger, who has previously blogged about protest actions is support of Sison, put it in a recent entry:
Then there was a ruling in the Sison case, that he can be held for another two weeks.
I’m very, very curious to see the evidence against Sison, and now I have to wonder why the judge is keeping him in solitary confinement. The public prosecutors aren’t saying anything about their evidence. That’s normal, but the track record of the government isn’t great in proving criminal organizations, much less “chain of command” cases.
But basically, we will know nothing for the next two weeks at least.
The news coming from the lawyer is very one sided: he says there was “no evidence” against Sison, but it says something that the judges thought it was enough to hold him anyway.
Having met the man, I will be very surprised if he said anything out loud that could get him into trouble. Various members of the NDF here told stories of how the Dutch police burst into their houses, breaking down the doors. One guy said his kids were like “sheesh, all they had to do was knock.”
About the arrest itself: Dean Jorge Bocobo (a vigorous critic of the NDF, etc.) certainly penned a dramatic digest of the arrest:
On August 29, the same day a rare astronomical event treated millions to the celestial spectacle of the eclipse of a red moon, Jose Maria Sison, founder and chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), were arrested by Dutch authorities at his home in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Sison allegedly ordered the murders of two former fellow Communists in the Philippines, Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara in 2003 and 2004. He is being held in The Hague pending arraignment and trial under Dutch law for allegedly ordering the assassinations, which are the basis of murder charges against him and New People’s Army operatives in the Philippines….
…Sison had been granted political refugee status in the Netherlands nearly 20 years ago on the basis of a claim that his life would be in danger in the Philippines. Once Sison was in safe harbor, the CPP’s top leadership and their families joined him to Utrecht where Sison received millions in financial contributions from the European Left and other international sources. From their European base they ran the CPP-NPA’s operations in the Philippines by fax and email and in coordination with their agents and allies in the Philippines. When anyone defied them, they allegedly resorted to assassinations to eliminate their ideological rivals, some of whom had returned to the fold of the law and were therefore considered “counter-revolutionaries” subject to execution by the same “People’s Courts” responsible for the purges and “killing fields” of the 1980s.
The josemariasison.org website has a thorough presentation of Sison-related legal cases: going into at times mind-numbing detail on the many cases Sison’s faced (and sometimes, though not always, won) is, however, disputed by JAE FEVER, who says past cases are beside the point:
There can be no denying that one President after another have tried to bring him down and seek his defeat, many times through means that flout due process principles and human rights values. For these instances, Sison has every right to seek recompense.
The onus of Sison’s supporters, however, is not simply to prove that a pattern exists. For indeed, that’s all they’ve been doing. The burden is for them to prove that this latest arrest fits into the pattern.
From the looks of it, it doesn’t. The bare-bones truth is that the case leading to this arrest was filed by two grieving widows who simply wanted justice for the deaths of their husbands. No mud has been slung on these women because no mud can be slung. They are not assets of the military, they do not work for the government, they have for the past several years lived simple and quiet lives. Joy Kintanar’s short statement is level-headed and devoid of the frothing-in-the-mouth anti-communist rhetoric that Sison’s supporters would have pounced upon: due process for Joma, truth, justice for Rolly. No comment on the peace process, no denouncing of the evils of communism and the Marxist-Leninst-Maoist ideology of the National Democratic Front.
So GMA rode on the issue. She was beside herself with glee, as though probable cause of Joma’s complicity in the murders of Rolly Kintanar and Art Tabara would exculpate her from the thousands of brazen extra-judicial killings against Bayan Muna members. Everyone with a modicum of logic and good sense should hate her by now. I know I do. But this doesn’t detract from the legitimacy of the quest for justice of Joy Kintanar and Inca Tabara.
The formulation is simple. It stands on no other ideology but simple justice and basic truth. Presidents who order the killings and disappearances of activists and journalists should be punished to the full extent of their criminal responsibility. Leaders of rebel groups who order the assassination of former members of their organization (or for that matter, orchestrate the murder and torture of comrades suspected to be deep penetration agents), should be punished to the full extent of their criminal responsibility.
People accused of murder should face trial. People proven to have murdered should have their ass hauled to jail.
This point of view was also reflected in a recent Inquirer editorial (and in my own blog; a good roundup of similar opinions is in Postcard Headlines). The editorial, in turn, sparked criticism from bloggers like JPaul S. Manzanilla, who wrote,
This is what the fascists have been trying to do do: turn the target of condemnation from the regime to the people’s movement. That Sison was arrested in accordance with the same subject of human rights - the alleged murder of former comrades - transfigures the human rights issue in a field where a “non-aligned” ground, as may be inferred from their attacks, has to be sought. In excess of the charge that “they (the Left) too, have crimes against humanity,” the butchers of our time create conditions wherein the settling of scores, the punishment of crimes, the impartial adjudicator, and the quest for justice are all only possible with the status quo. For surely the Inquirer claim (Try Him, 31 Aug 2007) that Kintanar’s widow’s brand of justice is the “neutral” (because coming from the aggrieved of the aggrieved?) serves the design to criminalize the revolutionary movement’s leadership. There can be no neutral trial for Sison because under the hands of the Arroyo, U.S. and Dutch governments that strive to image for us a revolutionary movement that is a “totalitarian” and “cannibalistic” troop.
In other words, not only are the allegations against Sison always trumped-up, but it is a great affront to Sison and his supporters to even think that his(alleged) crimes are on the same level as the crimes they regularly attribute to the government and the military. That the idea of subjecting everyone -Left, Right, or Center- to the same standards of justice may be horrifying to some members of the Left, suggests how divorced the Left is from mainstream opinion. Furthermore, it also suggests (dismayingly, for them, I’m sure) that the obvious split in attitudes between an outraged Left and an indifferent middle (never mind the prematurely, deliriously happy Right), despite the usual Solidarity networks raising the decibel levels, has shown how unsuccessful efforts by the NDF to build a united front have been.
But as the Sassy Lawyer asked, who can say, with precision, what Sison’s been charged with? Up to now, no one from Philippine media can quote the provisions of the Dutch Penal Code, chapter and verse, that Sison’s accused of having broken. I tried, but it was beyond me: the English version of the Dutch Penal Code online is incomplete; and LLRX.com and UofM Law School provide helpful overviews of the Dutch legal system, but no Penal Code in full. Not that the Dutch themselves have been entirely helpful: Philippine Commentary quotes Dutch government press releases in full, and they’re quite undetailed:
31 augustus 2007
On Friday Jose Maria Sison, 68, has been brought before the examining judge at court in The Hague. The judge ordered that the communist leader shall remain in pre-trial custody for a period of 14 days. Sison has been arrested on Tuesday by the National Criminal Investigation Service of the Dutch National Police.
He is believed tot be engaged in murder cases in the Philippines. The communist leader is suspected of giving orders, from the Netherlands, to murder former political associates.
For information please contact Wim de Bruin
But, come to think of it, such statements are, at least, official.
Everything Sison-related on Inquirer.net is on the The Arrest of Joma Sison.
