Timorese Court of Appeal upholds request of suspicion against its President

Claudio Ximenes - The President of the Court of Appeal

Translation of LUSA via SAPO News

September 24, 2013, 08:31

The full Court of Appeal for East Timor granted a request for suspicion against Judge Claudio Ximenes following a complaint filed by prosecutors on the proceedings involving the former Justice Minister Lucia Lobato.

Claudio Ximenes , President of the Court of Appeal was thus unable to participate in processes related to former Justice Minister Timorese arrested in January this year by participating in private business, according to the judgment , dated August, and recently obtained by Lusa.

The decision of the full Court of Appeal referred to above was taken following statements made to the press by the President of that judicial body, Claudio Ximenes .

"From the point of view of the average citizen, given the express public demonstration revealing a judgment in favor of the defendant , referring to the process that ran against her in the Court of Appeal, is susceptible to generate public opinion in this country (certainly with some foundation ) of feelings of personal favoritism, as well as recognition of regular contact with the defendant during the course of the Habeas Corpus, it is to admit the susceptibility of suspicion about the fairness of Mr. Presiding Judge of the Court of Appeal ", stresses the document.
The judgment states that the plenary Claudio Ximenes told reporters that the Court of Appeal should have given "reason to Lucia Lobato on Habeas Corpus."

The application for Habeas Corpus filed by the defense of Lucia Lobato was rejected by two judges of the Court of Appeal with the dissenting opinion of Claudio Ximenes, who explained why he was in favor of the immediate release of Lucia Lobato, especially considering there are procedural errors.

The judges who signed the judgment that accepts the request of suspicion against Claudio Ximenes were also the target of accusations of bias by the former Justice Minister of East Timor� defense lawyers, who previously brought to the prosecutor requests of suspicion against them.

The Court of Appeal, rejected those requests of suspicion against the judges.

Yesterday, in a statement to the press, the Timorese non-governmental organization, The Justice System Monitoring Program, warned that "the public can understand that the decisions were not neutral or fair because decisions on extraordinary appeals were taken by the same judges" in the first appeal.

For the organization, that they are the same judges to consider appeals from the decisions can have a "negative impact on the principle of a fair and impartial trial."