The Commission on Human Rights said Friday a former peace consultant of the National Democratic Front was tortured to death, following a tractor pull between police and the slain activist’s family for his remains.
The activist, who died from a spiked weapon, was identified as Randall Echanis, 71, whose body was autopsied by the commission, which said it bore at least 15 wounds, including two on his head.
At the same time, the Department of Justice has said a composite team investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Echanis has one month to submit its findings.
“The investigation into the killing…is already underway. The composite team tasked to conduct the investigation was given one month within which to submit a report on its findings,” Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said in a text message.
“They may ask for an extension. Then, a special oversight team will review and evaluate their report and recommend what action to take,” Perete added.
The composite team was constituted pursuant to Administrative Order 35 task force, a special unit of the DoJ that conducts an investigation into politically-motivated killings or extrajudicial killings of members of civil society groups, political movements, people’s and non-government organizations, among others.
Last Aug. 10, Echanis was found dead, along with his neighbor inside his house in Quezon City.
Meanwhile, Perete revealed that the AO 35 Secretariat already recommended the inclusion of Zara Alvarez’ case in the docket of the task force.
Alvarez’ death came a few days after the death of Echanis.
Alvarez is a community health worker and paralegal for human rights group Karapatan.
“That recommendation is now under review, after which a Special investigating Team may also be formed to probe the case,” Perete stressed.
CHR Commissioner Leah Tanodra-Armamento said 12 of Echanis’ wounds were on his back and were incised, meaning they were longer than they were deep, and were meant to “cause pain.”
“The killing is not merely just to kill him, but to make him suffer before he eventually was killed,” Armamento told ANC in an interview.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun, who conducted an independent autopsy four days after Echanis’ death, said that contrary to the initial death certificate, the peasant leader did not die of a gunshot wound to the head. There was no gunshot wound to begin with.
What killed Echanis, said Fortun, was a long stab wound from the back that punctured his aorta, nicked his esophagus and a portion of his heart.
“You cannot survive this,” Fortun said of the stabbing, adding such a wound would lead to instant death.
There were, however, several superficial stabs on Echanis’ back, and several blows to his head that led to the fracturing of his skull.
By all indications, Fortun said, Echanis sustained these injuries while he was still alive.
Fortun did not go as far as to call these signs of torture, as she explained “torture” was not a forensic term.
But she believed the presence of these injuries suggested he was first made to feel pain before being dealt the death blow.
Meanwhile, Kilusang Mayo Uno secretary general Jerome Adonis, reacting to the forensic investigation by Fortun said the slain activist was killed in “a barbaric and brutal method of torturing and killing an unarmed person.|
“Dr. Fortun’s statement confirms the accuracy of what Ka Randy’s family and colleagues are saying about the brutality of his murder.”
Adonis also echoed the sentiment of Echanis’ widow Linda that only state forces had the motive to kill someone like him, an advocate for agrarian reform and national industrialization, among many others.
“The Duterte government really has a direct hand in the assassination. They are still pretending to be investigating but SOCO will not be able to release the result. Very lazy. Something is really covering up.”
Adonis slammed the government’s investigation as a way to whitewash the incident into a common crime and not an effort to seek truth and exact accountability.
“They want to bury in oblivion the bloody hand of the Duterte regime in this assassination. But we, Ka Randy’s comrades and family, we know the truth and the people will never forget that. They will be held accountable.”
Adonis enjoined the public to be vigilant and to follow through the investigation.