AL releases Sulu’s suspension documents

Pereira Coutinho

The Legislative Assembly (AL) has finally agreed to the requests made by lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho, to allow access to the documents sent by the legislative body in response to a solicitation from the Court of Second Instance (TSI) regarding the case of the suspension of the mandate of lawmaker Sulu Sou.

In a letter signed by the vice president of the AL, Chui Sai Cheong, it was stated that “[such documents] are related with judicial processes pending in court, wherefore they should be kept under secrecy.”

Contacted by the Times, Coutinho confirmed all the requested documents have been received, though he notes they have arrived “very late and only after insisting a lot and even threatening to take the case to the courts.”

In the few documents that the Times had access to, the AL asked the judges of the TSI to contest the interim injunction, based on two major points: one – that if the suspension of Sou was not immediately enforced the public interest would be seriously impeded; and two – that such a decision [to revoke the AL ruling to suspend Sou] would constitute serious damage for the image of the AL. This admission would have been seen as an implication that the decision taken by the plenary in a secret vote on December 4 last year was not well considered.
Commenting on such a response, lawmaker Pereira Coutinho said “I disagree with this plea [of the AL] because in the past there have been many worse situations that have affected the image of AL much more,” he said, adding, “On the other hand, the image of AL was [also] affected by denying Sulu Sou of one of his fundamental rights, to defend himself, and by not ordering an investigation process and having failed to comply with the procedural rules required by law.”

When asked by the Times for AL’s reasons in delaying the release of the documents required by a lawmaker, Coutinho added, “It was a matter of haughtiness and authoritarianism.”

Pereira Coutinho made two requests asking the AL to allow access the documents in question, the first on January 18 and the second on January 29. During the second request, he threatened a lawsuit against the president of the AL, Ho Iat Seng, if his rights were not fulfilled.

Tsi rejects sulu sou’s injunction

SULU SOU’S request to have his suspension from the Legislative Assembly waived while he appeals several administrative irregularities leading to the December 4 vote was denied yesterday by the Court of Second Instance. The young lawmaker is accused of civil disobedience in a lawsuit related to a protest last year against a controversial donation from the Macao Foundation to Jinan University. He was ousted in a secret ballot vote at the Legislative Assembly, with 28 legislators voting in favor and just four against. However, Sou claims that several irregularities leading up to the vote, which “violated the rules of procedure and fundamental rights of the appellant,” should annul the suspension. Though the decision of the request was published on the court’s website, it remains not known how the judges arrived at their decision. Sou’s lawyer, Jorge Menezes, told public broadcaster TDM that he will wait for the explanation to be made public before discussing with Sou whether to appeal the decision at the Final Instance Court.