Top court sides with political scientist

Macau’s top court has ruled in favor of an appeal filed by a political scientist who says he was unfairly dismissed from his position at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) in 2014.
Political scientist Eric Sautedé says he was unfairly dismissed from the USJ for expressing his political views. The university has said that the decision not to renew Sautedé’s contract with the university was an internal decision and that there were various reasons for his dismissal.
The case was thrown out of the first and second courts, hence the appeal filed by Sautedé at the Court of Final Instance (TUI) in February 2019.
On Friday, the TUI announced that it had sided with the appellant. The details of the TUI decision had not been released at the time of print and so it is not yet known if the case will return to court.
“This is not only good for me, but good for the rule of law in Macau,” Sautedé said in brief remarks to the Times yesterday. “Until now, [my case] was simply dismissed in the first and second instance [courts]. It gives a glimmer of hope that my case might finally be heard after six years.”
Sautedé is seeking 1.3 million patacas in compensation from the USJ, comprised of 800,000 patacas for material damages and the remainder for damage to his reputation.
Sautedé’s lawyer, Miguel Quental, declined to comment, saying that he would await the details of the court’s decision. Lawyer Filipe Figueiredo, who represents the University of Saint Joseph, was not immediately reachable yesterday.
In a 2014 interview with Portuguese-language newspaper Ponto Final, former USJ rector Peter Stilwell admitted that political commentary was behind the decision. “There is a principle in the church, which is of non-intervention in local political debates,” Stilwell told the paper.
The USJ announced last month the appointment of Stephen Morgan as its next rector. Morgan is expected to officially take the helm at the university in July.