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Jamiri, 2 others recant affidavits on House blast |
By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 04:43pm (Mla time) 12/10/2007
 MANILA, Philippines -- Former Basilan town mayor Hajarun Jamiri and two others have retracted their statements over the bombing at the House of Representatives last November.
The explosion killed Basilan Representative Wahab Akbar and four others.
In his first affidavit, former Basilan town Mayor Hajarun Jamiri claimed that Akbar was the target of the blast and had tagged Anak-Mindanao Representative Mujiv Hataman as the mastermind.
But in his affidavit of recantation submitted Monday during the preliminary investigation at the Department of Justice (DoJ), Jamiri alleged that he had been tortured by the military to force him to confess.
Aside from Jamiri, Adhan Kusain and Caidar Aunal also submitted their affidavits of recantation, claiming that they were under duress when they signed their first testimonies.
In his statement, Jamiri said that he was taken by armed men on November 19 while at a supermarket in San Andres Street, Malate, Manila.
Jamiri said he was blindfolded and when he arrived at an unidentified place, was tortured. He said he received countless fist blows; his head and his shin were hit by a hard object several times; both of his feet were trampled on by hard-soled shoes; and his nipples and penis were electrocuted.
Jamiri said that while he was being tortured, he was being asked who between Hataman and former Basilan congressman Jerry Salapuddin was the mastermind.
After he was tortured, Jamiri said he was taken to the Manila City Hall where the prosecutors conducted inquest proceedings. And then, he was taken to the National Capital Region-Criminal Investigation and Detention Unit in Quezon City, he added.
Jamiri said that upon his arrival there, an investigator was waiting for him to get his statement. When he refused, he said he was threatened again.
"Dahil sa takot na ako ay saktang muli ay napilitan akong magbigay ng aking salaysay [Because I was afraid of being tortured again, I was forced to give my testimony]," Jamiri said.
Jamiri said Dr. Benito Molino in the presence of Professor Jerome Bailen examined him.
Jamiri's lawyer Eduardo Arriba said they were also studying the filing of criminal and administrative charges against those who tortured the former mayor.
Meanwhile, Kusain and Aunal admitted that they too were afraid and that the lawyer assigned to them was not the “counsel of their choice.”
"We were threatened and tortured and the CIDG did not give us a ‘counsel of our choice’ when we were asked for statements and a confession. Because we were forced to testify and without fully understanding, we signed the statements that we knew were not true,” the two said in Filipino.
Kusain, Aunal and Ikram Indama were arrested in a raid conducted by the police on a house in Violago Village, Payatas, Quezon City last November 15.
Attorney Jose Ventura Aspiras said they would submit the medical examination results of the two in the hearing on December 26.
During the preliminary investigation, Hataman and his brother Jim and Salapuddin did not appear before the DoJ panel headed by State Prosecutor Peter Ong. |
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