Mozambican parliament reinforces protection of magistrates and reduces judicial vacations

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Mozambican parliament reinforces protection of magistrates and reduces judicial vacations

12:21 CAT | 22 May 2018

The Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique on Monday approved by consensus the strengthening of measures to protect magistrates, and reduced their holidays from two months to one.

The measures are set out in amendments to the Statute of Judicial Magistrates and the Organic Law of Judicial Courts, approved by all the three parliamentary benches.

Under the innovations introduced in the statute, judicial magistrates and their next of kin will enjoy special protection if circumstances so justify. Police commanders who fail to provide security for magistrates who need it will be adjudged guilty of disobedience.

The Superior Council for the Judiciary may provisionally move magistrates and their families from places where their life or physical integrity is in danger to areas that offer better protection. The changes envisaged in the statute also provide for the creation of a protection committee for judges, which will assess their need for special protection.

The rules on retirement of magistrates become more flexible, to ensure the replacement of judges and to ensure continuity of the judicial function as a public service. Under the amendments to the Organic Law of Judicial Courts, judicial vacations decrease from two to one month, in February only, and not February and March, as was previously the case.

The district court courts are now empowered to decide on parole applications, an attribution previously assigned to provincial courts only.

Amendments to the State of Judicial Magistrates and to the Organic Law of Judicial Courts still have to be promulgated by the President of the Republic and published in the Official Gazette (Boletim da Republica) in order to enter into force.

The Mozambican Association of Judges has been complaining of working in an atmosphere of fear as a result of the murder of magistrates and their lack of protection.

Source: Lusa