The former president of the Philippines faces charges for a 2015 police raid that left 44 officers dead. Benigno Aquino was indicted for usurping authority and allowing a suspended police chief to run the fatal raid.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Malasig
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Philippine Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales ordered criminal negligence charges against former President Benigno Aquino III for a 2015 operation that left 44 officers dead. During the raid, militants ambushed 400 police commandos sent to kill a Malaysian extremist. Aquino had entrusted police chief Alan Purisima - at the time suspended and facing corruption charges - with planning the operation to arrest a terror suspect in the town of Mamasapano, in Maguindanao province.
A Senate inquiry found that Purisima and Napenas failed to coordinate the operation with the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a rebel group that could have mediated. As a result of the carnage, the congress refused to pass a Muslim self-rule bill that would have crowned Aquino's efforts to bring lasting peace to the rebellion-torn Mindanao region, home to the Catholic nation's large Islamic minority. The congress could look at a new such bill within the next two weeks.
Carpio-Morales also plans to file charges against Purisima and another former official, Getulio Napenas.
Civilians flee fighting in southern Philippines
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'Some erroneous conclusions'
Ernesto Abella, the spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte , hailed the "heroic sacrifice" of the slain police commandos after Carpio-Morales announced the charges. "It is his - and the nation's - hope to finally bring justice to the victims and families of the Fallen 44 and put closure to the issue as part of the healing process," Abella said, speaking for Duterte.
Aquino, president from 2010 to 2016, could face several years in prison if convicted. An aide said the former president planned to study the Ombudsman's decree in order to file a motion for reconsideration. "An initial reading shows that there may have been a misappreciation of some facts surrounding the incident, leading to some erroneous conclusions," the aide said in a statement.
The bloodbath, infamously known as the "Mamasapano Massacre," helped to turn public opinion against Aquino, who later unsuccessfully campaigned to prevent the election of Duterte as his successor. The new president has frequently raised the Mamasapano incident as proof of his predecessor's misdeeds. Duterte's supporters had also filed a complaint of "reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide" against Aquino, but Carpio-Morales dismissed that.
Fallen leaders
Corruption, bribery or power abuse: DW takes a look back at some prominent world leaders who have been convicted in the past five years.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Peres
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil
Lula has been found guilty of corruption and money laundering for his involvement in the "Car Wash" scandal, an extensive corruption probe that uncovered widespread bribery among Brazil's elites. Lula, who held the presidential office between 2003 and 2010, was sentenced to 12 years in jail. He still has a chance to appeal the ruling.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Peres
Cristina Fernandez, Argentina
Cristina Fernandez, who served as Argentina's first lady and then as its president from 2007 to 2015, was indicted on corruption charges in 2016. She was accused of granting public construction contracts to favored companies. She denies any wrongdoing. Fernandez is now seeking a political comeback, which some observers say is a bid to seek immunity against the charges.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/L. La Valle
Park Geun-hye, South Korea
Following months of public outcry over a wave of corruption allegations, South Korea's first female president Park Geun-hye was removed from office. She has been charged with extortion, bribery and abuse of power. Park was impeached in December 2016.
Image: Getty Images/A.Young-Joon
Ehud Olmert, Israel
The 71-year-old Olmert, who was premier between 2006 and 2009, was convicted of corruption in 2014. He entered prison in February 2016 but was was released in early July 2017 after his sentence was shortened. He was the first former prime minister of Israel to go to prison. Benjamin Netanyahu was his successor.
Image: Reuters/O. Zwigenberg
Adrian Nastase, Romania
Adrian Nastase was convicted of corruption charges in 2012 and sentenced to a two-year imprisonment term. At the time when the sentence was pronounced, he was the only head of government sentenced to prison in the 23 years following the Romanian Revolution. He was Romania's prime minister from 2004-2006.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/
Charles G. Taylor, Liberia
Charles G. Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2012 for his role in atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during its civil war in the 1990s. Taylor was the first former head of state convicted by an international tribunal since the Nuremberg trials in Germany after World War II. He was Liberia's president from 1997-2003.
