Victim of US Marine to sue Philippine officials in custody issue

Jan 1, 2007, 14:25 GMT

Manila - The attorney for a Filipino woman raped by a US Marine vowed Monday to file criminal charges against Philippine government officials involved in the transfer of the convicted soldier to US custody pending his appeal.

Evalyn Ursua, who represents the victim identified only as Nicole, said the transfer of Lance Corporal Daniel Smith from the Makati City jail to the US embassy last Friday was actually an 'escape' because there was no court order allowing it.

'What our government officials did was a crime,' she said. 'A person who is jailed cannot be released without a court order. We will file cases against these officials, one case will be a petition for contempt.

'We will also file criminal charges within the next several days,' she added. 'Under our penal code, it is a crime (to help) in the escape of a prisoner.'

Smith's transfer late in the evening Friday came days after the US cancelled large-scale military training exercises with Filipino troops in apparent retaliation for the US Marine's detention in the Makati City jail.

The US embassy insists that Smith should remain in US custody until his conviction becomes final, invoking a provision of a visiting-forces' agreement between Washington and Manila.

But the Philippine judge that convicted Smith for raping the 23-year-old Filipino woman in November 2005 stressed that the provision in the visiting-forces' agreement no longer covered the 21-year-old American soldier.

Smith's lawyers, with the support of the US embassy and the Philippine government, have raised the matter to the Court of Appeals, which ordered a status quo while it studied the merits of the custody case.

Ursua said among the officials that would be charged are Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol.

'This is a breakdown of our system,' she lamented. 'As lawyers, they should protect the rule of law, protect the constitution and promote respect for the court. These government officials, who are all lawyers, violated this duty.'