THE HAGUE -- A Dutch court gave prosecutors the go-ahead Thursday to pursue murder charges against Philippine communist leader Jose Maria Sison, despite an earlier dismissal of the case.

"Today, the District Court of The Hague decided in camera that the Public Prosecution Service may continue the prosecution of Jose Maria Sison for involvement in, among other matters, a number of murders committed in the Philippines in 2003 and 2004," said a statement.

Sison, 68, the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing, the New People's Army (NPA), has been living in the Netherlands since 1987.

He was arrested in August 2007 in his adopted town of Utrecht on suspicion of having ordered, from the Netherlands, the murder of former NPA commanders Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara.

But in September, the district court of The Hague ordered that Sison be freed "for lack of grave presumptions," a decision upheld in October by the court of appeals.

The public prosecutor's office closed the preliminary inquiry against Sison in November last year, but informed him in January that it intended pursuing him further.

The district court found on Thursday that while the prosecution's case file still held insufficient evidence, the investigation was ongoing and should be given time to unfold.

"... the Public Prosecution Service may continue their criminal proceedings against Sison," said a statement from the court.

Kintanar was killed on January 23, 2003 and Tabara on September 26, 2004. Both men, who belonged to Sison's inner circle, were said to be victims of an internal purge.

Sison, also known as Armando Liwanag, lives in self-imposed exile in the Netherlands. His request for political asylum was rejected but the Dutch government has not expelled him because his life is deemed to be in danger in the Philippines.