PRESS RELEASE
East
Timor's Court of Appeal Renders Three Further Decisions Applying Portuguese
Law
JSMP : 22 July 2003
The Court of Appeal has recently delivered three further appeals applying
Portuguese law in East Timor. In each case heard before the Court on Friday
last week, the majority of the Court , namely Judge Claudio Ximenes (Presiding)
and Judge Jose Antunes (Portugese International Judge) affirmed their
position that the appropriate subsidiary law in East Timor is Portuguese,
rather than Indonesian law.
The third member of the Court, Judge Jacinta Correia da Costa delivered
a dissenting opinion expressing her view that the correct interpretation
of the Constitution of East Timor, taken together with United Nations
Regulations 1/1999, is that Indonesian Law should be the subsidiary law
in East Timor. In her dissenting judgment, Judge da Costa emphasised that
it was Indonesian, and not Portugese law, which was being applied in East
Timor prior to October 1999.
Two of the cases determined last Friday, Joanico Gusmao and Aumerindo
Afonso dos Santos, related to pre-trial detentions while the third case,
Augustino da Costa, was an appeal against the sentence imposed by the
Special Panel for Serious Crimes.
These decisions followed the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case
of Armando dos Santos delivered on Tuesday of last week. In its decision
the Court of Appeal considered that Portuguese Law, rather than the Indonesian
Law, should be the applicable subsidiary law in East Timor. The decision
is of concern to JSMP and other national and international actors working
in the justice sector in East Timor because it has created uncertainty
regarding what should be the applicable law in this jurisdiction.
" The decisions of the Court of Appeal last Friday shows that there
is an urgent need to clarify the application of Portuguese and Indonesian
Law in East Timorese Courts. The application of different laws by the
different courts in East Timor brings uncertainty not only for the legal
profession but to the entire society in East Timor" - said JSMP
JSMP is currently preparing an analysis of the Court of Appeal decision
and implications of the Armando dos Santos case.
Ends.