EAST TIMORESE GOVERNMENT PROPOSES AMNESTY LAW
JSMP, Dili 31 May 2002 ---- As the first legislative initiative of the
independent East Timorese government, a new law on amnesty and pardons
for
past crimes was approved by the East Timorese Council of Ministers on
25 May
2002. For reasons that are unclear, the law has been withdrawn temporarily
and is currently being re-drafted.
The law proposes to grant amnesty for all crimes prior to 30 September
1999
committed by East Timorese who were coerced into joining militia groups,
as
long as the crimes were not "violent and bloody". The draft
does not specify
what crimes would be covered by this definition, and also fails to clarify
what is meant by "forced to integrate to the militias". The
Special Panels
of the Dili District Court have previously rejected defence arguments
on
forced militia involvement if the accused person had an opportunity to
escape from the group at some point before committing the crime.
By contrast, the draft legislation also proposes that members of the
East
Timorese resistance movement would be granted amnesty for any past criminal
conduct, providing such conduct does not amount to war crimes, genocide
or
crimes against humanity. In addition, the amnesty would extend to all
non-violent property offences committed prior to 20 May 2002. Finally,
the
new law purports to grant automatic pardons in the form of reduced sentences
for all other criminal offences committed prior to 20 May 2002 that do
not
fall within the ambit of the amnesty provisions.
The proposed legislation has raised several concerns that relate to both
the
content of the law as well as the process of enacting legislation in newly
independent East Timor. The law does not outline any procedures for applying
for amnesty or pardons, including who would be responsible for deciding
and
recording who had been granted an amnesty or pardon. The new East Timorese
Constitution clearly grants authority over amnesty to the National
Parliament and designates the capacity to grant pardons as an exclusive
Presidential power. To date, the law has been introduced as an initiative
of
the Council of Ministers but has not yet been presented to the National
Parliament. Another concern is that the proposed law may also have
significant implications for one of the central functions of the Commission
for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, namely the community reconciliation
of minor offences such as isolated property offences.
It is still unclear when the revised legislation will be presented to
the
National Parliament.
---Judicial System Monitoring Programme www.jsmp.minihub.org ----