Kapatid, a group of relatives and friends of political prisoners, denounced and called for an immediate independent investigation into the arrest of Pertinisa Jereula Charita, 55, while visiting her husband in prison in San Carlos, Negros Occidental last February 13. According to Human Rights Advocates Negros (HRAN), the police falsely claimed confiscating a .22 caliber pistol from Charita while she was being frisked.

Charita, a member of Kapatid-Negros and the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW), is the wife of Leon Charita who was arrested in September 2019 on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Pertinisa was with her children and grandchildren when she visited Leon to commemorate his birthday inside the prison.

“Kapatid calls for the dismissal of the trumped-up case against Pertinisa Charita and for her immediate release,” according to Kapatid’s statement. The police claim that they confiscated a pistol from her does not have the slightest logic. “There is no logical reason why Pertinisa would risk her own freedom and the safety of her family by bringing a gun to the facility,” the group emphasized.

The group insist that she is not guilty but a victim of those who want to punish her for revealing the truth about the state of human rights abuses and repression under the guise of the Marcos regime’s counter-insurgency campaign. Pertinisa was among those who appeared before and was interviewed by UN Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan when she visited Cebu City recently.

According to HRAN, the circumstances of Pertinisa’s arrest show a a new modus operandi of framing families of political prisoners to intimidate and threaten them.