Section 10 of UNTAET Regulation 2000/11
conferred on the Special Panels for Serious Crimes (SPSC),
which were a part of the Dili District Court, exclusive jurisdiction with
respect to serious crimes, that is:
Murder and sexual offences, provided these offences
were committed between 1 January 1999 and 25 October 1999
Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,
whenever they occurred.
Furthermore, the Court had universal jurisdiction
over the serious crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
– that is, irrespective of where, by whom and against whom the offence
was committed. However all charges heard by the SPSC arose from the tumultuous
period leading up to and immediately following the Consultation in 1999.
The SPSC was established pursuant to s 1 of UNTAET Regulation 2000/15. The
SPSC conducted hearings on the ground level of the same building in which
the Court of Appeal is located. Pursuant to section 13.1 of the Constitution,
the official languages of East Timor are Portuguese and Tetum, (the principal,
although not the only, indigenous language of East Timor). Nevertheless,
during the transition period, and in accordance with s 35 of UNTAET Regulation
2000/11 as amended by Regulation 2001/25, the working languages of the Courts
in East Timor were Portuguese, Tetum, Bahasa Indonesia and English. In the
SPSC interpretation services were provided from and to the four working
languages of the Courts in East Timor. Translation services were also provided
for other regional languages used in East Timor where necessary.According
to law each panel of the SPSC was comprised of two international judges
and one judge from East Timor (which replicates the requirements of the
Court of Appeal): section 22.1 UNTAET Regulation 2000/15.
On 20 May 2005 the SPSC's mandate finished and trials
were completed. A total of 84 defendants were convicted and three defendants
were acquitted of all charges.
In February 2005 the United Nations Secretary General
appointed a commission of experts to investigate the success of the
Serious Crimes processes in East Timor and Indonesia. The future of
the SPSC will be heavily influenced by the United Nation's response
to the commission of experts' report. Ultimately the ability to prosecute
the serious crimes perpetrated in 1999 will be dependent on funding
and resources.
JSMP carried out extensive monitoring of the SPSC
hearings. JSMP observed approximately 80% of hearings before the SPSC. Amongst
other things, monitoring consisted of thorough observation and analysis
of cases and examination of the case files held at the Court Registry. The
object of our monitoring was to gauge on a case by case basis the extent
of compliance with domestic laws and, in general terms, to ensure that the
hearings were conducted fairly in accordance with the standards prescribed
by international law. JSMP also attempts to provide wide access to SPSC
court documents through publication on our website.
Publications All
documents are pdf .
To download Acrobat PDF Reader click here.
May
Thematic Reports: Digest of the Jurisprudence of the Special Panels for Serious Crimes. English,
Thematic Reports: Torture Survivors : Their Experiences of Violation, Truth and Justice. English,Indonesia
Press Release: Training on Criminal Investigation from Gender Perspective According to Timor-Leste's Criminal Procedure Code English,Indonesia,Tetum
Justice Update : Restrictive Measure Pre-Trial Detention, Parole and Suspension of the Execution of a Prison Sentence. English,Indonesia, Portuqese
March
Press Release: The Perpetrators of a Shooting that Acurred in the Jardim in 2006 are acquitted. English,Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: Alfredo Goncalves the Perpetrators of a Murde Against the Victim Joao Pinto, has been Sentenced to five years inprisonment. English,Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: Dili District Court hands down 5 Defendants Charged with Illegal Possesion of Weapons. English,Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: 2005 Rape Case Involving Member of the Police (PNTL). English,Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: Dili District Court holds Proceedings to Interrogate a member of Alfredo Reinado Associates. English,Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: Baucau District Court Decides to Repatriate a Forme Indonesia National Armed Force (TNI) Member to Indonesia. English,Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: JSMP Regrets the Statement by Xanana Gusmao about Declaring a state of emergency that has caused dissensions to emerge in the community English,Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: Rogerio Tiago Lobato Sentenced to 7 years 6 months prison English,Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: The Suai District Court in the post-crisis period English,Indonesia,Tetum
Justice Update: The Court Needs Witness Testimony to Establish the Material Facts English,Indonesia,Tetum
February
Press Release: JSMP-Women Justice Unit and VSS, in Fokus "Networking Conference" Thailand 2007 English,Indonesia,
Press Release: The Actual Prime Minister Present to give Testemony at the Hearing in Connection with the Case of the Alleged Arming of Civilians English, Indonesia,Tetum
Press Release: Former Vice-Minister of the Interior Asked to Testify at the Court Hearing in Connection with the Criminal Case of Alleged Arming of Civilians English, Indonesia,Tetum
Justice Update: JSMP Comment on the Draft Legislation on East Timorese Lawyers Indonesia,Tetum, English
Justice Update : Statement by the President of National Parliament Considered to be Incompatible with the Principle of Separation of Powers Indonesia,Tetum, English
January
Press Release: Hearing of Evidence in the Trial of the Defeandant Rogerio Lobato and the Other Co-accused Indonesia,Tetum, English
Press Release: The Court Ordered the Timor-Leste Ministry of justice and UNPOL to Provide Physical Protection Measures for the Witnesses in the Case of Defendant Rogerio Lobato and His Co-Accused Indonesia,Tetum, English
Press Release: First Judicial Inquiry for Eleven Members of F-FDTL and One of PNTL Held in Dili District Court Indonesia,Tetum, English
Press Release: Memeber of Laksaur Militia Appears Before Panel of Judges in Dili District Court Indonesia,Tetum, English
Press Release: The Fourth Hearing of Evidence in the Trial of Rogerio Tiago Lobato and Other Co-Accused Did not Aggravate Accusation Against the Defendants Indonesia,Tetum, English
Press Release: The Witness Paulo de Fatima Martins Justified the Issuance of F2000 Automatic Guns by the Defendant Rogerio Lobato Indonesia,Tetum, English
Justice Update: The Court Counducted a Hearing for one of the Witnesses in the Presence of Other Co-Witnesses to be at Courtroom Indonesia,Tetum, English
Press Release : The Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) Will Make a big Mistake, if it Recommend an Amnesty to the Crimes Prepetrators in Timor-Leste Indonesia,Tetum, English
Press Release : Majority the Top Officials of the Timor-Leste Goverment Asked to be present as witnesses in the case against the Defendant Rogerio F.T. Lobato Indonesia,Tetum, English
Press Release : Trough the witness statement, the Court Ordered the office the Prosecutor to launch a criminal investigation against Railos and Liquica District PNTL Commander Indonesia,Tetum, English
Desember
Press Release: Defendants Involved in Death of PNTL Member Tomas da Costa Given Suspended Sentence of 1 Month, 15 Days Jail IndonesiaEnglish,Tetum
November
Justice
Update: The Dissemination Of “CHEGA”
The Final Report Of The CAVR IndonesiaEnglish,
October
Justice Update: JSMP Response to the
Report of the UN Independent Special Commission Of Inquiry For Timor
Leste IndonesiaEnglish,
Press
release Third Annual AATL Conference Held in Dili
[English,
Indonesia]
September
Thematic Reports Progress to Date in the Cases
of Rogerio Lobato and Mari Alkatir
(IndonesiaEnglish,
Tetum)
Copyright
2006 Judicial System Monitoring Programme
This website contains links to external information. JSMP takes no responsibility
for this information even where we host copies on our server.
