Archimedes Trajano

The 1993 conviction, Trajano v. Marcos (978 F 2d 493), is noted in U.S. legal circles for exposing the weaknesses of the act of state doctrine, allowing for similar suits to be filed.

Nine years after Trajano's death, on March 20, 1986, Agapita Trajano was able to file a case against Imee Marcos and Fabian Ver (Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines) in Hawaii, after the Marcoses were ousted from power. Imee Marcos admitted in court knowledge of Trajano's fate but claimed it was "none of [her] business]". Marcos and Ver were charged with false imprisonment, kidnapping, wrongful death, and the deprivation of rights for Archimedes Trajano. Imee Marcos defended herself by claiming immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. This act exempts foreign agents from prosecution. However, the court denied her arguments for two reasons: one, the crime was committed beyond the scope of her official work and duties, and; two, she did not act upon the authority of the government but acted on her own authority.

On Wednesday, August 31, 1977, Trajano attended the open forum held at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila where 21-year-old Imee Marcos, the eldest daughter of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was the speaker. During the forum, Trajano, who was also 21 years old at the time, questioned the appointment of Imee Marcos as the director of the Kabataang Barangay (National Youth Council). He asked, “Must the Kabataang Barangay be headed by the president’s daughter? She would not have gotten the position if she weren't the daughter of the president," which allegedly irritated Imee Marcos. Trajano was forcibly thrown out of the open forum, and was subsequently blindfolded, and then beaten by Marcos' bodyguards. The forum was where Trajano was last seen alive.

On September 2, 1977, Trajano was found dead with signs of beating and torture apparent and his body and face severely mangled. His mother Agapita Trajano recalls, "He was covered in a white sheet, lying on a table. And when I opened the sheet . . . I saw him black and blue”. As almost all media outlets at the time were controlled by the government, Trajano's death was not reported in local newspapers. An article released in an issue of the Bulletin Today the day after his death simply talked of deaths in college campuses "due to hazings conducted by fraternities".

Archimedes "Archie" Trajano (1956–1977) was a Filipino student activist during the Martial law in the Philippines whose death is attributed to Imee Marcos, daughter of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.