Constitutional Court of Sao Tome does not function after the automatic resignation of four judges

Four of Sao Tome’s five Constitutional Court (CC) judges ceased their duties on Tuesday following the entry into force of an interpretive law approved by the National Assembly that automatically dismisses judges at the age of 62.

The law, approved on Thursday by a parliamentary majority backing the government, established that all judicial and ministerial magistrates aged 62 must “immediately cease the active work of judges, automatically moving into a situation of inaccessibility,” “regardless of any formalities.”

The diploma was promulgated the following day by the President of Sao Tome, Carlos Vila Nova, and published on Monday.

With the entry into force of the new law, the President of the CU Pascoal Dayo, the Vice President Maria Elis Carvalho and the judges Amaro Couto and Ilario Garrido ceased their activities, which made it impossible for the body to function due to the lack of a quorum.

However, a law passed by the National Assembly established that the only judge who remains in active service, Patrick López, “ensures the efficient functioning and representation of the Constitutional Court” until vacancies are filled, within a maximum period of 30 days.

The law also specifies that “automatically terminate on the jubilee or retirement” of a magistrate “the rights to the professional and personal use of vehicles and fuel, as well as the driver’s and subsidies for telephone, water and electricity, insofar as they are inherent in the effective exercise of the function of a magistrate”.

The diploma was approved by five votes of the MP group of the coalition Movement of Independent Citizens-Social Party/Party of National Unity (MCI-PS/PUN) and 28 votes of the Independent Democratic Action (ADI).

MPs from the opposition parties voted against the law, respectively 18 from the Liberation Movement of Sao Tome and Principe/Social Democratic Party (MLSTP/PSD) and two from the Basta movement, and asked the President of the Republic to veto the diploma, declaring it unconstitutional . .

Before the adoption of the law, the President of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, Silva Gomez Cravid, called on the press to emphasize that the law is a “malicious intent” of deputies, “which is aimed solely at their own interests, the interests of groups that persecute judges for their actions.”

Luciada University President of Sao Tome and Principe and political analyst Liberato Moniz praised the cuts in benefits defined in the law, but deplored the way the process was conceived, especially as an initiative of the Monteiros party. brothers” involved in the processes related to Cervejeira Rosema.

“Obviously, in addition to the desire to be fair when withdrawing dividends, there was also an intention to try to mock people, which, in my opinion, is not good, because in the future, when there will be a new majority in the assembly, the part that suffered on Wednesday could do the exact opposite by refuting this law and making amends to people, and who will suffer again is Sao Tome and Principe,” commented Liberato Moniz.

The analyst also criticized the swiftness of the President of the Republic “in the face of such a controversial law.”

“This means that he himself already knew the law, he already knew what it was, because he did not bother to send people for preventive checks or listen to people again,” he criticized.

Four judges who ceased their functions in the TC due to the entry into force of the Law on the Interpretation of the Justice System were involved in the decisions of the TC, which in 2019 allowed the cancellation of the proposal for a ruling aimed at the return of Cerveheira. Rozem to the current leaders of the MCI-PS/PUN coalition, who proposed that the interpretative law be approved in the National Assembly.

The Prime Minister of Sao Tome and Principe, Patrice Trovoada, supported the proposal, arguing that it was necessary to direct public resources to sitting judges while reducing the benefits of retired judges.