Andal Jr. wants victims' lawyer jailed

Manila, Philippines - Maguindanao massacre suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr. is asking a judge to jail private prosecutor Harry Roque for one month for allegedly insinuating that he was guilty of the Nov. 23, 2009 murders during an interview aired by an international cable channel.

Ampatuan, through lawyer Philip Sigfrid Fortun, also asked that Roque be fined P5,000 for committing contempt of court by discussing the merits of the case on “The Maguindanao Massacre” documentary aired by The History Channel on Sept. 26, 2010. The petition was raffled off to Judge Jose Paneda of the Quezon City regional trial court early this month.

“Roque concludes that petitioner and his family had conspired to commit the massacre,” Fortun said.

He added that Roque alleged that Ampatuan misused public funds and murdered 200 persons to depict the Ampatuans as “felons with established criminal records” who were capable of killing 57 people, including journalists and relatives of his political rival, now Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.