Former Senator Leila de Lima in Binalbagan, Negros Occidental.*ML Partylist photo
Former Senator Leila de Lima said she will definitely file a case against former president Rodrigo Duterte and former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre for her being detained for almost seven years on fabricated drug trafficking charges.
The charges have since been dismissed.
De Lima, first nominee of the Mamamayang Liberal PartyList, was campaigning in Negros Occidental on Wednesday, April 3.
She said her lawyers are preparing charges against Duterte, Aguirre and several others who had a hand in accessing witnesses and inmates who were “forced, coerced and pressured” to falsely testify against her.
“My lawyers are at it already…they are supposed to really be studying what exactly the cases to be filed…it has to be a tight case,” she said.
De Lima also said Duterte’s arrest to face charges before the Internal Criminal Court in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity “is the beginning of justice taking its course for the thousands who were killed in Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs”.
Delima said she was ecstatic that his arrest was a triumph for justice and at the same time was sad that it had to take an international tribunal to intervene. *