Posted: January 5th, 2012, 8:00am MSK
On January 5, 2009, Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay, Philippines, pleaded not guilty to 41 murder charges stemming from the November 2009 massacre of 57 opposition supporters and journalists in Maguindanao province. The plea followed the trial of 600 people charged with interfering with government operations following the massacre. Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared martial law and suspended habeus corpus rights following the rebellion that resulted from the massacre, which a later lawsuit by victims' families alleged she helped perpetrate. Learn more about the Philippines from the JURIST news archive. Also on This Day at Law: Ninth Circuit struck down felon voter disenfranchisement law French court began trial