[Kabar-indonesia] SMH: Fretilin takes aim at legal system

[Joyo at aol.com]

Sydney Morning Herald
July 4, 2006

Fretilin takes aim at legal system

Lindsay Murdoch in Dili and agencies

EAST TIMOR'S ruling Fretilin party has moved to restructure the office of the 
country's top prosecutor in a move seen by opposition MPs as an attempt to 
protect the deposed prime minister Mari Alkatiri from criminal prosecution.

The party angered opposition MPs at parliament's first sitting in weeks 
yesterday, when it introduced a resolution to restructure the Office of 
Prosecutor-General within the Public Affairs Ministry.

The Prosecutor-General, Longuinhos Monteiro, last week summoned Mr Alkatiri 
to a hearing to answer questions about allegations that he helped form a hit 
squad to eliminate political rivals in advance of elections scheduled for next 
year.

Mr Alkatiri failed to attend, saying his lawyer had not arrived from overseas.

Fretilin's president and parliamentary Speaker, Francisco Guterres, 
introduced another resolution yesterday inviting Mr Alkatiri to sit in parliament.

Fretilin insists this would give him immunity from prosecution.

Mr Monteiro said last night he had written a letter to parliament asking it 
to waive any immunity.

He told the Herald that if parliament agreed with his request, he would send 
another summons for Mr Alkatiri to attend court.

Mr Monteiro would not comment on Fretilin's move against his office.

He earlier told reporters that Mr Alkatiri could face prosecution, depending 
on his answers, after the former interior minister Rogerio Lobato told another 
hearing last month that the former prime minister had "full knowledge" of the 
hit squad, armed with automatic weapons looted from the police armoury.

An opposition MP, Joao Gonclaves, last night accused Fretilin of trying to 
"bulldoze a resolution against the Prosecutor-General that is unconstitutional 
and illegal because the Prosecutor-General is independent of parliament".

Fretilin's moves prompted angry outbursts in parliament.

"They're manipulators," said the deputy opposition leader, Lucia Lobato, 
adding that Fretilin wanted to axe the position of prosecutor-general.

But Fretilin's deputy Speaker, Jacob Fernandes, said the party's only concern 
was to re-establish the rule of law after months of unrest. "The courts must 
not be used to persecute people politically," he said.

Mr Alkatiri remains the key behind-the-scenes powerbroker in Fretilin, which, 
under the constitution, has the right to name the next prime minister.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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