Philippine prosecutors have filed 25 counts of murder against a politician accused of leading an election-linked massacre of 57 people.
The charges against Andal Ampatuan Jnr were filed in a court in the southern city of Cotabato, which has jurisdiction over the remote farming area where the slaughter occurred last week, said prosecutor Edilberto Jamora.
However authorities said they were looking to have the case heard outside of the southern Philippines because witnesses were extremely worried about intimidation or other repercussions from the extremely powerful Ampatuan clan.
‘They are reluctant to go to court and they fear for their safety and their families' safety,’ Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera told reporters in Manila.
The Ampatuans, through the backing of their own private army and the support of President Gloria Arroyo's ruling coalition, have ruled the southern province of Maguindanao since 2001.
Mr Ampatuan Jnr's father, who goes by the same name, has been governor of Maguindanao since 2001, although he has held other senior provincial positions since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
While Mr Ampatuan Jnr, a local town mayor, is being held in a Manila detention centre, his father and seven other relatives are also being investigated over their potential roles in the killings.
Other members of the Ampatuan clan, including the father, have been summoned to submit affidavits in the investigation, Mr Jamora said, without specifying how many.
Authorities said Friday that Ampatuan Jnr had been charged with seven counts of murder for the massacre.
The number rose to 25 on Monday as authorities gathered more evidence and processed death certificates.
Mr Ampatuan Jnr has only been charged with 25 murders so far because authorities had only processed 25 death certificates, indicating more charges could follow.
About 100 soldiers, policemen and other Ampatuan gunmen murdered 57 people, including the wife and two sisters of a rival from another Muslim clan, Esmael Mangudadatu, last Monday.
The victims' bodies were buried or dumped on a road near a town bearing the Ampatuan name. Among those killed were journalists, lawyers and other civilians.
Mr Mangudadatu said the killings were carried out to stop him from running against Ampatuan Jnr for the post of governor in next year's national elections.
