Sou decides to ‘Not Challenge’ TUI’s ruling

From left to right: Menezes, Sou, Chiang and Leal

Following the Court of Final Appeal’s (TUI) recent decision to end the consideration of an appeal submitted by Sulu Sou, the lawmaker officially stated that he would not pursue clarification of the court’s decision.

The appeal was regarding the legal grounds of procedures leading to the suspension of his mandate by the Legislative Assembly (AL).

In a statement Sou disseminated yesterday, the lawmaker lamented that the court ended up not ruling in his favor on the wrongs described in his civil actions against AL.

“The action ended up with no winners, and no losers. I am saddened that Macau was not given an opportunity to see these matters clarified, because the Rule of Law depends to a significant extent on the clarity of the rules and principles that govern our life,” the lawmaker stated.

As previously reported, the court’s justification was that the appeal was “dismissed as unnecessary” according to the Article 84 (e) of the Code of Administrative Litigation and Article 229 (e) of the Code of Civil Procedure, since a favorable decision would result in the return of the lawmaker to his seat in the AL.

Since Sou’s mandate had already been re-established, the court thus decided that it was useless to continue to analyze the appeal.

Pursuant to the law, Sou could still dispute whether the action would be of no practical consequence or not by lodging an appeal to the three judge panel at the TUI.

“However, I decided not to challenge TUI’s ruling. The judge who issued the ruling elaborated on his reasons, explained it to them, provided the decision in both official languages and publicized it.”

Meanwhile, Sou expressed that discussing whether illegal resolutions of the AL can be nullified by the courts – particularly when they breach fundamental rights – is relevant for the protection of the Rule of Law, for furthering the Basic Law’s guarantees and for better defining the separation of powers.

“Our view is that confirming the illegality of the AL decisions, which breached fundamental rights of a legislator, would matter for the well-functioning of the AL and to the Rule of Law,” said Sou.

In the latter part of the statement, Sou commended his lawyer Jorge Menezes, along with Scott Chiang’s defense lawyer, Pedro Leal.

Menezes “took the forefront of our quest by courageously committing to represent us in this system-shaking legal action against the AL,” the pro-democracy lawmaker stated.