Africa-Press – Seychelles. The Court of Appeal has set for June 25, 2023 to hear a new application by the Seychelles Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman and the Bar Association of Seychelles against the Constitutional Court’s ruling of January 24, 2023 that dismissed their initial petition requesting for the panel of justices to recuse themselves from the 10th Constitutional Amendment case.
This followsthe three entities’ decision to seek special leave under the Court of Appeal rules to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the recusal decision, not in their favour, by the Constitutional Court.
It was Justice Fiona Robison who made the ruling yesterday morning.
In January, after the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Rony Govinden, Justice Mohan Burhan and Justice Brassel Adeline, had dismissed their petition to remove them as judges in the case, the petitioners, namely Divino Sabino, Conrad Lablache and George Robert representing the three entities, sought for leave from the Supreme Court to appeal through the Court of Appeal against the decision of the High Court and were on May 9, 2023, told by the court that they did not need leave to appeal because the matter was not considered as interlocutory.
The petition was first brought in September 2022 by the three entities against the Speaker of the National Assembly, the country’s president, the Attorney General representing the Seychelles government and the Attorney General.
It followed the enactment of the 10th Constitutional Amendment that came into force on June 14, 2022, empowering the Seychelles Defence Forces to carry out internal law enforcement in Seychelles outside the context of a public emergency.
The petition had argued that the 10th Amendment was unconstitutional because it undermined the democratic protections afforded by the Constitution, and had been notoriously controversial since 1977, in reference to reports of human rights violations during the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) investigation.
Meanwhile, in the Supreme Court yesterday before Justice David Esparon, the two suspects detained under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Terrorism Act 2020,along with two other suspects ‒a woman (two counts) and another man (one count)who are both on bail ‒pleaded not guilty to all charges laid against them in relation to the above.
They are expected to be back in court on October 9, 2023, the day the trial will begin and which is expected to end on November 8, 2023.
The first suspect (82 counts) – a resident of Eden Island – was said to be using his businesses to launder funds deriving from illicit deeds, with the assistance of the second suspect(two counts) who is a resident of Beau Vallon. The woman and the man are out on bail.
For More News And Analysis About Seychelles Follow Africa-Press
