The Australian
10 August 2002
Cigarettes ignite East Timor lawyers' strike
By Paul Toohey
EAST Timor's 40-odd lawyers are on strike. The judges and registry staff
have
all gone home. In the words of one Australian lawyer working in Dili,
the
courthouse is abandoned "but for two sleepy policemen".
East Timor lawyer's association president Benevides Correia Barros said
lawyers would not work until East Timorese border officials and police
recognised that the bad old days, when they did as they pleased, were
over.
The problem began in February when Customs Service Control -- the border
police -- seized cigarettes worth $US1200 ($2250) belonging to a small-time
trader, Marsal dos Santos.
It was claimed he had not paid import duty but his lawyers argued Mr
dos
Santos, who was nabbed well inside the East Timor border near Balibo,
had
bought the cigarettes inside the country and they were legal.
At a preliminary mediation hearing, lawyers asked for the cigarettes
--
believed to be the clove-scented killer, Gudang Garam -- back. This was
refused so the matter went to court. Customs was ordered to send a
representative on three occasions, but each time no one showed.
Finally, a judgment was made in favour of the trader and the cigarettes
ordered to be returned. But customs still refused to give them back.
"There are three arrogant border control officers who say they do
not obey
East Timorese law," says Mr Correia Barros. "They say they prefer
Portuguese
law."
A judge issued an arrest warrant for the three customs officers but,
says the
lawyer, "the police won't go and arrest them. The judge and we don't
know
why. If police get a court order, they have to obey it. This is crazy."
President Xanana Gusmao stepped in on the four-day-old strike yesterday
afternoon. Mr Correia Barros said the President promised to call the Police
Commissioner immediately to order the customs officials' arrest.
The lawyers say they will stay on strike until the cigarettes are returned
and the customs officers arrested.