Dili, April 10th, 2025, the National Parliament, through an Extraordinary Plenary Session, this Thursday approved the urgent request for Bill No. 16/VI (2nd), second amendment to Law No. 25/2021, December 2nd – Judicial Organization Law, which the Government presented to the National Parliament on April 3rd, 2025, with 36 votes in favor, 19 against and 1 abstention.
The Minister of Justice, Sérgio de Jesus Fernandes da Costa Hornai, stated that this Bill is necessary to present to the National Parliament for assessment and to give political legitimacy and constitutional legality to the gaps that exist so that the sovereign body that has competence can make political decisions in accordance with the Constitution.
The Minister of Justice stated that the amendment of Law No. 25/2021 – Judicial Organization Law with the aim of harmonizing, systematizing and complying with the competence of the President of the Republic, at the same time giving legitimacy to the Superior Council including appointments for the President of the Court of Appeal or President of the Supreme Court, so that they can work effectively.
When the law is changed, the Government will continue to do exercises to fully articulate its interpretation of some articles that are not affected by the change so that they can prepare a committee and/or recruitment team to set up the Supreme Court and the Court of Auditors. Currently, the justice sector is doing exercises to place as many judges as possible for the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal and to promote from the first instance to the second instance, so this is an argument for making the request with urgency,’ said the Minister of Justice.
On this occasion, the member of parliament Joaquim dos Santos from the FRETELIN Bench considers the proposed law as a request for urgency because for 22 years, the President of the Republic has been exercising his duty in accordance with the constitutional imperative and the matter included in this request is unnecessary, especially the transitional articles, and does not constitute a reason for the request for urgency, when the Government wants to make new rules to replace the interpretation of the constitution.
This member of the legislative body argued that the amendment to the proposed law is against the legal principles that still constitute the law of the judicial organization that cannot admit approvals for second class norms to preside over the Court of Appeal that already has its Judges Counselors and Judges of the first class, that is why I am urging Parliament to send this document back to the Government to submit with normal request.
On the other hand, The member of parliament Patrocínio Fernandes Dos Reis as President of Commission A said the urgent request is in place because the Government came with a problem for the President of the Court of Appeal’s mandate that will end in April, 2025, so if it fails to provide a solution, there will be a vacancy when the President of the Court of Appeal’s mandate ends.
Meanwhile, the discussion and approval of the proposed Law No. 16/VI (2a), second amendment to Law No. 25/2021, 2 December – Law on Judicial Organization, was chaired by the President of the National Parliament, Maria Fernanda Lay, and was also attended by the Vice-Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, H E Adérito Hugo da Costa.