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.