After a Muntinlupa court dismissed her petition for bail, United Nations (UN) experts repeated their call for the immediate release of former senator Leila de Lima on Saturday, June 17.
The UN experts expressed "grave disappointment" with the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 256's denial of De Lima's bail plea, stating tjat it occurred after "more than six years of arbitrary detention."
They demanded that the Marcos administration "close this case once and for all, provide compensation and other reparations, and investigate the circumstances that allowed this to happen in the first place."
The bail petition is in relation to De Lima's drug case which is currently ongoing before Muntinlupa RTC 256.
The case involves persons deprived of liberties (PDLs) who accused the former senator of running an illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).
Earlier this week, her legal team submitted a motion for reconsideration on the bail petition.
De Lima had already been acquitted in her two drug charges, which she claimed were acts of political persecution.
The UN experts are made up of special rapporteurs, independent experts, and working groups and are part of the Human Rights Council's Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system.
It also refers to the Human Rights Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring processes, which "address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world."
In 2018, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Arrest determined that De Lima's arrest was "arbitrary given the absence of a legal basis" and that her right to a fair trial had not been "respected."
Diplomats and human rights activists have resumed efforts for De Lima's release after President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.'s victory.
Prior to her detention in 2017, De Lima had spent a decade investigating alleged "death squad" killings carried out by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte when he was the former Davao City mayor and in the early days of his presidency.
She conducted the investigations first as the country's human rights commissioner, then as the Aquino administration's justice minister.
Meanwhile, De Lima was elected to the Senate in 2016, becoming one of the chamber's few opposition voices following Duterte's sweeping victory.
Duterte then accused her of being the leader of a drug trafficking network.
De Lima ran unsuccessfully for re-election to the Senate last year while imprisoned.
