Former Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, will stay in detention after a court hearing her drug case denied her bail petition, her lawyer said.
(Bloomberg) — Former Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, will stay in detention after a court hearing her drug case denied her bail petition, her lawyer said.
“Sad to inform you that the court denied Senator Leila’s bail application,” de Lima’s counsel Boni Tacardon said Wednesday, adding that their camp will issue an official statement.
De Lima has been in detention for six years, and is facing her last remaining drug case where she’s accused of tolerating alleged drug trade in the national penitentiary when she was justice chief. A court acquitted her in mid-May in a charge alleging her of conspiracy to trade illegal drugs.
The cases against the former senator were filed during the presidency of Duterte, whose drug war killed thousands. De Lima investigated this drug war when she was a human rights chief and a lawmaker, putting her in Duterte’s crosshairs.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently said there were abuses during Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, currently being investigated by the International Criminal Court. His justice chief had said that the ruling acquitting De Lima showed the nation’s courts are independent.
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