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Philippines Charges Clan Boss and 196 Others Over Massacre

Stephen Jones The Epoch Times 02/10/2010 03:03
Andal Ampatuan Jr. (C), on the opening day of his court hearing, on Feb. 3 for the massacre of 57 people including 30 journalists.

Andal Ampatuan Jr. (C), on the opening day of his court hearing, on Feb. 3 for the massacre of 57 people including 30 journalists.


The patriarch of a powerful clan in the southern Philippines has been charged with authorizing the massacre of 57 of his political rivals.



Another 196, including family members, police, and civilian militia, also face charges for their role in what has become the country's worst election-related violence in recent years.

Andal Ampatuan Sr., whose family has dominated the unruly Maguindanao Province for over a decade, will face 57 counts of murder before a Manila court.

It is alleged that Ampatuan Sr., who has close ties to the country's President Gloria Arroyo, was behind the deaths of a group of supporters of political rival Esmael Mangudadatu.

The victims—among whom were Mangudadatu's wife and pregnant sister—had been traveling to the provincial capital to file election papers for Mangudadatu, who is running for governor in the May elections.

They were ambushed and shot by a group of around 100 armed men. Their bodies were found in a mass grave in a mountainous area of the province.

Prior to Tuesday's announcement on the mass charges, only the clan leader's son—Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr—had been charged.

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