Maguindanao (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The suspicious deaths of
potential witnesses to the Maguindanao
massacre (Mindanao) continue. Today police confirmed
the killing of Ampatuan Alijiol present during the
massacre of 57 people of the clan
Magudadatu on
November 23, 2009. He was a
relative of Andal Ampatuan
Sr., former governor of the autonomous region of Mindanao (Autonomus Region in
Muslim Mindanao -
ARMM), considered the instigator of the massacre.
Marcelo Pintac, Maguidanao
superintendent of police, said there had been no reports
of Alijiol Ampatuan since last February. He had decided to work as
a prosecution witness at the
trial of the Ampatuan clan. The man was
killed in a shooting incident
in late February in the town of Shariff Aguak (Maguindanao).
Alijiol Ampatuan is
the sixth witness to be murdered since January 2010.
Among those killed self-confessed killer Suwaid
Uphan, murdered June 14, 2010.
Relatives of victims have repeatedly accused the police of not providing adequate protection to witnesses and their families. More
than two years after the massacre, the process is
stalled. To date none
of the 196 defendants have yet been
sentenced definitively. Among them also Andal
Ampatuan Jr., son
of former governor of Maguidanano,
on trial for 41 of
the 57 murders.