DFA: Veloso lawyer barred from prison visit due to ‘misdemeanor’

THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday said that a lawyer for Filipina drug convict Mary Jane Veloso was barred from visiting her because of his bad behavior at the prison premises.

In a statement, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose said that Veloso’s private lawyer and National Union of People’s Lawyers Secretary General Edre Olalia was barred by the Indonesian prosecutor to visit Veloso on Monday because of the past interviews he gave while inside the maximum security island prison of Nusakambangan.

“Atty. (Edre) Olalia was barred by the Prosecutor from joining today’s visit because of his press interviews at the prison and his demeanor inside the prison,” Jose said.

Jose said that Olalia would not leave the Veloso family alone.

“He would not leave family alone and would insist to be with them all the time, saying he is a member of the family,” the Foreign Affairs spokesperson said.

In a Facebook post, Olalia decried how he was prevented from joining the Veloso family, due to “stricter security measures” being implemented.

The lawyer said that it was a representative from the Philippine embassy who prevented him from entering Nusakambangan prison.

“Their Philippine private legal counsel Edre U. Olalia from NUPL – who is officially endorsed by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) – was not allowed to pass through the usual security protocol. He was told by a virtual spokesman of the Philippine embassy that he is not allowed to come and enter,” he said.

The private lawyer said that he let the issue slide and that “there will be a more appropriate time and venue for reckoning.”

Olalia, a public interest lawyer, has been blasting the government’s delay in extending legal aid to Veloso, which led to her conviction.

Veloso was arrested in 2010 after she was caught with 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her bag.

The Sleman District Court on Monday afternoon rejected the second appeal of the Philippine government on Veloso’s case, citing an Indonesian Supreme Court rule that a case can only be appealed once.

The 30-year-old mother of two is set to be executed through firing squad on April 28.