Philippines rebel charges dropped

Philippine protesters call on the Dutch judiciary not to prosecute Jose Marie Sison (2007)

Jose Maria Sison has not been expelled because of the threat to his life

Dutch prosecutors have dropped murder charges against Philippine Communist rebel leader Jose Maria Sison.

The national court said there was not enough evidence to implicate Mr Sison, 70, in the killings of two former associates in Manila in 2003 and 2004.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder was arrested in 2007 in Utrecht, where he lives in exile.

The CPP military wing, the New People's Army (NPA), is waging a rebellion that has cost more than 40,000 lives.

The NPA suspended peace talks with the government in 2004 after it was included on a US list of proscribed terrorist organisations.

The CPP and NPA have been on the European Union's list of terrorist organisations since 2002, but Mr Sison has not been expelled by the Dutch authorities because of the threat to his life in the Philippines.

Witness statements

In August 2007, Mr Sison was arrested and indicted by Dutch prosecutors for allegedly ordering the murders of two former communist associates, Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara, in the Philippines in 2003 and 2004.

Prosecutors said he had ordered the "war crimes" from his home in the Netherlands, where several CPP and NPA leaders live in exile. Mr Sison's lawyer said the charges were politically motivated.

But two weeks later, the district court of The Hague ordered his release, arguing that there was too little hard evidence against him. The decision was upheld at appeal later that year.

Then in June 2008, the court ruled that while the prosecution still lacked sufficient evidence, their investigation into the allegations should continue.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said in a statement that their case file "contained statements from witnesses and documents according to which the murders had been carried out by the New People's Army".

"According to other testimony, the suspect had very close links with the organs of the Communist Party at the time in question," it said.

"The witnesses also said that because of his position at the heart of the Philippines Communist Party, he would have been implicated in the murders."

However, the national court found that there was still "not enough evidence" to prosecute Mr Sison.