The detained phycisist Kim Gargar was fetched Friday by colleagues, family and friends from Baganga jail in Davao Oriental after posting bail, even as the Free Kim Gargar (FKG) Alliance reiterated its call to drop all alleged trumped-up and baseless charges against him.
The group AGHAM (Advocates of Science and Technology for the People) on Saturday said in a prepared statement: "That the court granted Gargar's release on bail, in spite the non-bailable charge against him of illegal possession of explosive devices, is an indication of how baseless all the charges against him are."
Noel Jalmasco, a member of AGHAM and FKG, described the release as "only a partial relief."
Gargar, former a professor in the University of the Philippines and a PhD candidate at Groningen University in the Netherlands, was arrested by the elements of the 67th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army on October 1, 2013 at Brgy. Aliwagwag, Cateel, Davao Oriental, while purportedly conducting a rehabilitation study on typhoon-Pablo devastated areas.
He was accused of being part of the armed group that the military encountered at a nearby village where he stayed during his field work.
Gargar was detained at Baganga jail and charged with illegal possession of explosives, several counts of attempted and frustrated murder and violation of the Comelec Gun Ban.
He was represented by lawyers from the Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao in the trial and assisted by Karapatan Southern Mindanao Region.
"Illegal possesion of explosives is a non-bailable offense, but the court found the testimony of Gargar's military accusers to be weak and incoherent. They accused him of having singlehandedly carried the 27 kg explosive devices, even though it took many of their men to carry the alleged weapons from the site to their headquarters,” said Jalmasco.
"We attribute this partial victory not only to the fact that the military's accounts and charges were false, but also to the tireless efforts of supportive family and friends from Mindanao, Metro Manila and even Europe," said Rog Amon of Center for Environmental Concerns Phils (CEC-Phils).
"We still have a long way to go in terms of having the charges dismissed, and still a lot of financial and material support to raise. We could now breathe more easily after having Kim physically freed because we are assured that he is in the hands of friends and family," said Amon.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/92460/detained-physicist-kim-gargar-released-on-bail
There appears to be little doubt that detained physicist Kim Gargar was/is a Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) activist. His association with AGHAM, a CPP front active in the scientific sector, especially on the University of the Philippines campus, tends to highlight that point.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, the fact that the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), a CPP front active in the legal sector, has taken up his defense and KARAPATAN, the main CPP human rights front has also come to his aid tends to reinforce Gargar's association with communist legal front organizations.
The real question is to what degree did Gargar cross the line and become involved with the clandestine New People's Army (NPA), the military wing of the CPP, and become actively engaged in underground activities designed to support the violent overthrow of the Philippine government?