The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Senator Antonio Trillanes of the Philippines, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/188/13(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 187th session (October 2010),

Referring also to Senator Trillanes’s letter of 21 March 2011,

Recalling that Navy Lieutenant Antonio Trillanes was arrested in July 2003 and charged with an attempted coup d’état on account of the so-called Oakwood siege when he and more than 300 young officers and soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines denounced corruption and graft in the Armed Forces and the Government of the then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; that while in detention he was elected in the May 2007 Senate elections, having obtained the 11th highest number of votes; that, however, his continuing detention prevented him from actually exercising his parliamentary mandate; recalling also its concerns about the conformity of Senator Trillanes’s preventive detention with the international human rights norms governing detention, as well as its consistent calls upon the authorities to respect Senator Trillanes’s fundamental rights and to enable him to participate meaningfully in the work of the Senate,

Considering that on 24 November 2010 President Benigno Aquino issued Proclamation No. 75 granting amnesty to military and police personnel involved in coup attempts during the previous administration, which Amnesty Proclamation was approved by the Philippine Senate and Congress in December 2010; that, having been provisionally released on 21 December 2010, Senator Trillanes applied for and was granted amnesty under Proclamation No. 75 of the President,

1. Welcomes the amnesty granted to Senator Trillanes, which enables him finally to exercise his parliamentary mandate and to represent the people who voted for him;

2. Commends the President of the Philippines and the parliamentary and governmental authorities for their action to ensure respect for the fundamental rights of a member of parliament;

3. Decides to close this case in view of its satisfactory settlement.

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