Reprisals and the risk of being subjected to more attacks are grave concerns when speaking out and pursuing justice for human rights violations.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) condemns the killing of Ritchie Nepomuceno, a former female detainee who was allegedly raped under custody in Sawang Police Station in Cebu City, by still unidentified assailants on the evening of 19 April 2021.

Nepomuceno was one of the complainants who reached out to the CHR Region VII seeking investigation for the committed abuses by police officers against them on the counts of torture, rape, and extortion among others, and for the existence of an alleged secret detention cell inside the said police station.

The Commission is already conducting an independent probe on the incident and shall look into all angles of the case as Police Staff Sergeant Celso Lucero Colita, one of the identified suspects, also was reported to have shot himself on the same night of Nepomuceno’s death.

Our regional office has already deployed field investigators to reach out to other complainants and the family of the victim.

As the country’s Gender Ombud and the head of the Interim National Preventive Mechanism, the CHR denounces the persisting violence against women, including those perpetrated by State actors in total institutions, such as prisons and other detention facilities.

We stress that women victims, as key witnesses, should be granted full protection from any form of retaliation or attacks to ensure that they may exercise their right to participate in investigations and legal proceedings. This is an important guarantee so that those aggrieved may ultimately pursue justice and accountability without fear from the perpetrators of human rights violations.

We urge the government to conduct speedy investigation of the case as there are other complainants that also remain vulnerable to such violence. State’s prevention of human rights violations is as equally important as holding the perpetrators to account. ###