East Timor Legal News 27 August 2012

President of the Parliament Vicente Guterres

President of National Parliament to present his assets to the Court of Appeals - The new President of the National Parliament, Vicente Guterres, has announced that he will file his declaration of assets in the Court of Appeal shortly, Radio Televizaun de Timor-Leste (RTTL) has reported.

Mr Guterres also called on other Government officials to follow the example set by the President of the Republic who recently filed his and his family's assets declarations in the Court of Appeal and also publicly released them.
However, the Deputy Prime Minister was reported recently as stating that Government officials would not publicly declare their assets because the law only required them to file the declaration with the Court of Appeal and did not require public disclosure.
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Military Command meets with International Stabilisation Force - The East Timorese National Defence Forces (F-FDTL) Deputy Commander, Brigadier General Filomeno Paixao,  has reported that the F-FDTL Command has met with the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) to review their work in the country.

Paixao said F-FDTL was supported by the Australian and Portuguese Governments through the provision of advisers and capacity building for F-FDTL to improve the 2020 strategic plan.

"The aim of the meeting was to review the bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the field of defence," he said.He added the quality of administrative operations was important to improve F-FDTL at its Headquarters. (Source RTTL 27 August 2012)
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Samson ready to be jailed - Timor Post reports that the Director for LABEH [a national NGO], Cristopher Henry Samson said he was ready to be jailed in Becora prison following his conviction several months ago in the Dili District Court of falsifying documents relating to his East Timorese citizenship. He was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment for the offence.

"If the Court of Appeal decides that I am guilty and have to go to prison, I will go to Becora, I have to accept the Court's decision," he said.

Mr. Samson made the comments during the ceremony of LABEH's ninth anniversary in Kampung Baru, Comoro of Dili.
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Prime Minister inaugurates new police ship - Prime Minister Gusmao has said that the pesence of the new ship would help the country's security institutions to better control the Timor Sea's wealth.

"We have a lot of wealth in the sea. Therefore, we should control it and this new ship will combat  illegal fishing in our territorial waters," he said.

Mr. Gusmao made the comments during an inaugurating ceremony of the new ship for the East Timorese National Police (PNTL) at Dili Port.

Meanwhile, Timor Post also reports that the police will increase the number of Marine Unit personnel to strengthen security in the Timor Sea. The Marine Unit is presently comprised of only 57 members and that is not enough for deployment in areas such as Dili, Atabae, and Com in Lospalos.

"PNTL Marine Unit members are not enough to be deployed in seven stations at the Border Areas such as Dili, Atabae, and Com of Lospalos, therefore, PNTL commands will recruit more PNTL Agents that are attending training at PNTL Academy to be assigned for the Marine Unit," the Police Commissioner, Longinhos Monteiro said at the same inauguration ceremony. (Source: Timor Post)
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Government will test MP5 weapon in Indonesia - The State Secretary for Security Fransisco da Costa Guterres has established a team of police officers to go to Indonesia for testing the new MP5 weapons for the police force.

"Five of the weapons have been imported to Timor-Leste and tests have been conducted but the tests showed that the quality of the weapons was no optimal and so we have established a team to go to Indonesia for furthe testing. If those tests do not prove the quality of the weapons, we will cancel the order" the Secretary said.

The five weapons that were tested have been handed back to the Indonesian company that supplied them. (Source: Timor Post)

See related reports
Timor-Leste Will Buy More Guns?
PNTL buys PINDAD weapons and PNTL Intelligence Commander loses his semiautomatic assault rifle
Fundasaun Mahein (FM): Guns Are Not Toys
Management and Mismanagement of Police Weapons
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HAK calls on police to conduct thorough investigation into soldier's death - Diaro Nacional has reported tha tthe leading human rights civil society organisation (HAK) has called on the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the recent death of a soldier, Cristovao da Silva, in Dili.
"We are calling on PNTL to hold a thorough investigation into to the case to identify the suspect who bashed this defence force member to death," the Director of HAK, Rogerio Viegas said.

HAK also called on F-FDTL to improve its members' performance within the community, so that people would respect them.
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Prime Minister angry about illegal drugs - Independente reports that the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has called on the Timorese National Police (PNTL) and the Customs Department to strengthen security at the border to prevent people from importing illegal drugs in to the country.

"I am calling on you to pay attention to the illegal drugs imported from Indonesia to Timor-Leste. Several parcels of illegal drugs have been confiscated by the Indonesian police at the border," he said.