There were more than 200 cases for serious past crimes committed in 1999 are still on hold after international judges were expelled from the country in 2014.
The President of Timor-Leste’s Judges Association Antoninho Gonçalves, said the cases had been pending for three years and called for the trials to resume.
“The trial for serious crimes should be resumed by the internationaljudges,” he said.
Therefore, he called for the government and the National Parliament to look at the issue as they had passed the resolution to expel the international judges.
“If they expelled the international judges, they should modify the law and allow the national judges to resume trials for these cases,” he said, adding that the cases would remain on hold unless the government altered the law.
The crimes were alleged to have been committed during the Indonesian occupation prior to the country gaining independence in 2002.
The cases involved serious human rights abuses, including rape and murder.
Director of the Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP) Luis Oliveira Sampaio also called on the government to look into the issue, describing it as a major concern.
However, the Director of the Human Rights Association (HAK), Manuel Monteiro, said he suspected that the government and the National Parliament had little interest in resuming trials for serious past crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation.
“They have expelled the international judges [and] then ignored the trials against human rights [abuses],” Monteiro said.
He said the parliament and the government were aware of article 163, which refers to the procedure for the trial of serious past crimes, which must be presided over by international judges.
He said the government and the parliament must make a decision whether to modify the law or return the international judges.
He said the government could not continue to ignore the cases and that victims had the right for justice, truth and compensation.
“Do not forget it, it is a universal and fundamental right,” he said.
However, national MP Antoninho Bianco said serious past crimes were the court’s responsibility but it was important to strengthen the judicial system to resolve the issue.
He also called on the government to improve the capacity of human resources and establish the Supreme Court in order to resolve the cases.
