The President of the Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), Jorge Neto Valente, has criticized some of the government’s proposed inclusions in the new Judicial Organization Framework Law.
The proposed changes suggest that matters of national security should only be judged by permanently appointed Chinese judges, a measure that Neto Valente described as discriminatory and against Macau’s Basic Law, as reported by TDM Radio on Friday.
He added that “preventing foreign judges from prosecuting national security cases is a euphemism for the creation of a special court”, which he emphasized is outside the boundaries of the current legislation.
“The Basic Law says [in] article 85 that courts [can have] specialized competence, but it doesn’t say that we can have special courts […] to create a body of special judges for a certain kind of crime, is, in the end, [to] create a kind of special court.”
Neto Valente said the “special court” is only under consideration because some see it as a “solution” but that, in his opinion, would be a “bad solution.”
He also noted that the proposal does not specify the selection criteria for judges.
“Judges have the duty to apply all laws. If a judge cannot apply a particular law, whatever it may be [security or any other], he cannot be a judge. What we cannot do is discriminate [against] judges [among their peers],” he concluded.
Separately, the former Judge of the Court of Second Instance, Gil de Oliveira, told TDM Radio that he believes Sulu Sou will have a fair trial, free of any political pressure.
“I believe so. If I said that I didn’t believe, I would be in denial [of] my former role and what I am. I think it will be very bad if people don’t believe that the MSAR is able to provide a fair trial [on such a case],” he said. RM
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