Abadilla 5

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information provided by Yogyakarta Legal Aid (LBH Yogyakarta) regarding a vicious attack and abuse of power conducted by the Indonesian police, the Civil Service Police Unit (Satpol PP), and the Army against local residents who have refused to cooperate with the government in its plan […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the gang rape and incessant mental and physical torture being meted to a poor woman, Nasira Parveen. Her rapists, who have brought misery to the lives of her whole family, have tormented her for the past 2 years. The Police and lower Judiciary […]

Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information through Human Development Organization HDO Hazara Division KPK province that a teenage victim of police access and custodial torture and who was being habilitated at the rehabilitation facility of HDO has committed suicide. Three teenage boys from an urban locality suffered severe physical and […]

Dear Friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the illegal arrest and detention of the Lampusay siblings. One of the victims is a former volunteer educator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines – Northern Mindanao (RMP-NMR). The Lampusay siblings were accused of being members of the New People’s Army […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received disturbing information from  local media KBK Samachar and CGNET Swara regarding two bonded labourers in Kalahandi district of Odisha who have had their hands chopped by middlemen. The AHRC has learnt that the middlemen illegally confined the labourers for almost a week before the incident. […]

(Hong Kong, December 20, 2012) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is publishing today a 24-page legal critique of two controversial decisions issued by the Supreme Court (SC), the People v. Lumanog and the Lejano v. People, in comparison to judicial decisions in common law countries. The case People v. Lumanog is about the SC’s decision affirming the conviction and sentence to […]

Abstract: This paper studies the decision of the Philippine Supreme Court on two cases, People v. Lumanog (Abadilla Five case) and Lejano v. People (Vizconde massacre case), in comparison to the theory and practice in common law countries on the protection of Constitutional rights on the issue of arrest and detention, self-incrimination, legal assistance and […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ————- An article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission   MANILA, Philippines — After 14 years, a complaint of torture filed by the so-called Abadilla Five against […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that Merceditas Gutierrez, head of the Office of the Ombudsman, has pledged to resolve the complaint of torture of the Abadilla Five that has been pending in their office since January 2003 “in a week”.  UPDATED INFORMATION:  On January 3, 2011, the family members […]

Supreme Court (SC) affirms conviction of the accused in Abadilla murder but acquits accused in Vizconde Massacre on similar jurisprudence The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw the attention of the Supreme Court (SC) of the Philippines to its recent decision on two well-known cases tried in the lower courts; the conviction in […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) deeply regrets to inform you that the Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the guilty verdict on the Abadilla Five. The SC affirmed the earlier decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) which imposed a penalty of life imprisonment on them. The accused will be filing a Motion […]

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following statement from Judge Soliman M. Santos, Jr. of the 9th Municipal Circuit Trial Courts (MCTC) in Nabua-Bato, Camarines Sur. Judge Santos is the former legal counsel of two of the Abadilla Five detainees–Lenido Lumanog and Augusto Santos, before his appointment as trial court judge. The […]

(Hong Kong, June 18, 2010) To mark the 14th year of their imprisonment the families of the ‘Abadilla Five’ detainees once again held a demonstration in front of the Supreme Court in Metro Manila to renew their calls for justice. They are asking the court to resolve at once the detainees’ appeal convicting them for […]

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the lack of transparency by the Supreme Court (SC) in hearing the petition of the Abadilla Five. The petition, which sought to declare as null and void their conviction for murder, suffered further delay due to the lack of transparency and arbitrary […]

(Hong Kong, June 26, 2009) To mark the United Nation’s Day in Support of Victims of Torture today, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) launched its latest publication in Manila entitled: “Abadilla 5 Families”, a book which contains interviews and stories of their families in the latter’s travails for justice. The Abadilla Five is a […]

(Hong Kong, June 24, 2009) Three years ago, Axel Pinpin, a researcher and public information officer for a local peasant group, was abducted and briefly disappeared together with four other persons. Only later did Axel, and his four companions, Riel Custodio, Aristides Sarmiento, Enrico Ybanez and Michael Mesias, learn that they had actually been arrested. […]

(Hong Kong, April 6, 2009) A Catholic priest, Fr. Roberto Reyes, who had been campaigning for the release of the Abadilla Five, has criticised as “wrong” the pardon and subsequent release of three convicts, while the Abadilla Five case continues to suffer prolonged delay.  Those already released after the commutation of their prison terms and […]

Dear friends,  The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern regarding the death threats that one of the Abadilla Five detainees, whom we previously reported to have been suffering from kidney failure, is receiving inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City where he is presently detained.  UPDATED INFORMATION:  On 14 January 2009, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to once again draw your attention to the complaint of five men, known as the Abadilla Five, for violation of rights which the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) had investigated nearly 13 years ago in July 1996.  In the conclusion of the CHR’s investigation, it already recommended the […]