Prosecute Mastermind of Activist’s Murder First Conviction for Extrajudicial Killing During Aquino Administration-AHRC

Philippines: Prosecute Mastermind of Activist’s Murder
First Conviction for Extrajudicial Killing During Aquino Administration

(Manila, May 10, 2013) – Philippine authorities should ensure that those who planned and financed the killing of an environmental activist in 2011 are arrested and prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said today.

In the first conviction for an extrajudicial killing since President Benigno S. Aquino III came to office in 2010, a court in Palawan on May 7, 2013, sentenced Marlon Recamata to 40 years in prison for the January 24, 2011, killing of Gerry Ortega. Recamata had been arrested moments after shooting Ortega and subsequently confessed to the crime, implicating others.

“The conviction of the gunman in the killing of activist Gerry Ortega is an overdue milestone for the Aquino administration,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But the alleged mastermind is still at large and should not escape justice.”