The Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP) in Timor-Leste has expressed deep concern regarding political interference within the judicial system, warning that such actions could jeopardize the democratic Rule of Law.
“In 2025, the JSMP recorded that the judicial sector faced several challenges, which were understood as direct political interference in the judicial power,” states the judicial system monitoring report for 2025, released last week.
According to the document, this interference was observed “through legislative policies introduced to restructure the top leadership of the judicial sector,” which sparked criticism and concerns regarding unconstitutionality.
“Furthermore, political statements and assertions by leaders of the executive branch, intended to discredit the work of the judicial sector, as well as external pressures from various social forces, reveal a trend toward placing the judicial sector in a position of institutional fragility and incapacity,” the report highlights.
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The document adds that these interferences can also “create institutional misunderstandings and disputes whose purpose is to weaken the role and the normal, regular functioning of the judicial power, as provided for in the Constitution.”
In April 2025, the Timorese Parliament approved amendments to the law on judicial organization, allowing the Head of State to appoint the President of the Court of Appeal from among Timorese judges with more than 20 years of experience, even if they were not currently part of that specific court’s framework.
Despite strong criticism, Timorese President José Ramos-Horta promulgated the law and immediately appointed second-class judge Afonso Carmona to the position of President of the Court of Appeal. He took office on April 29, 2025.
The political movement Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin) requested an abstract review of the constitutionality of the amended norm. Subsequently, the Court of Appeal ruled both the legislative change and the appointment of Afonso Carmona as unconstitutional.
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“In a context of turbulence or political disturbance, it becomes easier to lead the judicial power into the domain of political power, which will ultimately weaken and compromise the capacity of the judicial sector itself,” the JSMP warns, noting that such phenomena are unsafe for a democratic state.
In addition to systemic concerns, the JSMP monitored 747 cases in 2025, of which 745 were criminal proceedings. The majority of these—568 cases—related to gender-based violence, while 50 cases involved crimes against children.
