Manila: Philippine authorities moved the main suspect in the election-related massacre of 57 people and his trial to a maximum-security detention facility outside the capital Thursday, citing risks to public safety.
Former town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., a scion of a powerful southern clan, and 195 others have been charged with murder for the Nov. 23 slaughter of political rivals and journalists accompanying them - a massacre unprecedented even in a country notorious for election violence and political killings.
Three days after the killings, Ampatuan turned himself in to police. He was the only person formally charged until prosecutors filed an indictment against his father, clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., and the others in February, in the country's largest murder case since World War II war crime trials.
Andal Ampatuan Jr. is the only defendant so far to stand trial, with proceedings opening in Manila in January.
Citing "possible danger to civilians and institutions" if the trial and defendant remain in Manila, the Supreme Court earlier this week ordered Ampatuan's transfer from his downtown detention cell to a suburban jail complex in Taguig, which also houses a police base.
The murder trial also will be transfered there from the main police camp.
Under tight security, Ampatuan rode in a convoy of 10 SUVs with tinted windows Thursday.
The indictment said the clan leaders conspired to ambush and kill members of the rival Mangudadatu family and their supporters, who were gunned down on a hilltop in southern Maguindanao province.
The attack apparently was aimed at preventing Esmael Mangudadatu from challenging the Ampatuans' control of the province in a gubernatorial election in May.
Among the dead were more than 30 journalists and their staff - the deadliest attack on media workers in the world. The killings elevated the Philippines to the top of a list of the most dangerous places for reporters.
The Ampatuans have denied the charges, and most of their armed followers have fled a crackdown in Maguindanao, about 560 miles (900 kilometers) south of Manila. Thousands of militiamen loyal to the clan are still in hiding, triggering sporadic clashes with government troops.
Seven members of the Ampatuan clan and 47 police officers are in custody, while 142 others still at large include 99 former militiamen loyal to the clan, 16 police and four soldiers, police said.
Victims' families have raised concern over the safety of witnesses who have testified against the Ampatuans. The brother of a policeman who testified in court has been shot and wounded by alleged hitmen.
