Independence of judiciary, media under attack, watchdogs say

Amnesty International and Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) have condemned the detention of the former president and vice president of Guinea-Bissau's Supreme Court and of two journalists, which they linked to attacks by the government against the independence of the media and the judiciary. Amnesty said it was very concerned about the arrests on 13 and 14 November of former Supreme Court President Emiliano Nosolini dos Reis and his former deputy, Venâncio Martins, two months after President Kumba Yala dismissed them from their posts. RSF (Reporters without Borders) condemned the arrest, also this week, of the director of the Diario de Bissau newspaper, Joao de Barros, and a member of his staff, Althizar Mendes. RSF Secretary-General Robert Menard said on Friday that press freedom was constantly deteriorating in the country. The two journalists were arrested on the order of Attorney General Caetano Intchama. "The Attorney General systematically attacks the country's independent press whose existence today is seriously threatened," Menard said in a letter to Intchama, whom he urged to release them. In late October, Intchama had ordered the closure of the daily Diário de Bissau and the weekly Gazeta de Noticias, which he accused of threatening peace and stability in the country. On 17 June, de Barros and Mendes had been held briefly for questioning by the secret police after their paper published an article titled 'Kumba Yala and corruption' which accused the president of being the person most responsible for corruption in the country, RSF said. While RSF accused the government of attacking the independent press, Amnesty linked the arrest of the two judges to "a concerted attack by the government of President Kumba Yala on the independence of the judiciary". In a report issued on Thursday, Amnesty said the independence of the judiciary in Guinea-Bissau had come increasingly under threat from Yala's government. It said the most serious attack was the dismissal of Dos Reis, Martins and two other judges, which "may have been carried out for political reasons". The dismissals, it said, "seriously undermine the authority of the judiciary and the rule of law in Guinea-Bissau". It said the judges were removed "without recourse to due process". They were dismissed, it recalled, by a presidential decree issued on 7 September which appointed four others to replace them. That decree gave no reason for their dismissal, although it was widely reported that in August, during a meeting with members of the Muslim community in Bissau, Yala had described the Supreme Court judges as corrupt, mediocre, liars and false and threatened to "overthrow all judges in the courts". The dismissal of the judges and the appointment of their replacements violated Articles 120 and 123 of the Guinea-Bissau Constitution. Amnesty said. Article 120 limits the president’s powers to swearing in judges after they are appointed by the Higher Council of Magistrates which, by virtue of Article 123, is also the only authority that can appoint, dismiss transfer or promote them. The dismissals follow a number of incidents in which Yala is reported to have threatened the independence of the courts and coerced magistrates. Amnesty International is concerned that these dismissals constitute an attack on the judiciary's ability to try cases before them fairly and impartially, the watchdog said. According to some reports, the dismissals may have been related to judicial decisions which apparently displeased the authorities, it added. [The Amnesty report can be read at ]