The Association of Judges of Angola (AJA) announced today that it will move forward this week with a lawsuit to challenge the decision of the president of the Superior Council of the Judiciary that appointed cadres for training in Portugal, without the opinion of the plenary.
The nominal list of magistrates was made by the president of the Angolan Supreme Court (TS) and, due to his duties, the Superior Council for the Judiciary (CSMJ), Joel Leonardo and, according to AJA, the initiative “was not appreciated” by the plenary of the CSMJ.
“Within 48 hours, we will file a petition with the court. We are going to move forward and our expectation is that this act will be suspended so that things can be done legally, that is, suspend the effectiveness of the activities practiced by the venerated judge president ”, affirmed today the president of AJA, Adalberto Gonçalves.
Speaking to Lusa, the official said that AJA’s biggest concern is the fact that the decision, on issues related to the training of magistrates, “falls within the competence of the plenary of the CSMJ and not the presiding judge” of the Angolan judiciary.
In a letter, recently made public, the presiding adviser judge of the CSMJ, Joel Leonardo, sent to the Attorney General of the Republic of Angola a nominal list of six judges for the training in Portugal, beginning on January 8, 2021.
Angolan judges appointed for this training are Daniel Modesto Geraldes, Antónia Kilombo José Damião, Joaquim Fernando Salombongo, Pedro Nazaré Pascoal, Amélia Jumbila Isaú Leonardo Machado and Nazaré Sílvio Inácio António.
“This question, in particular, about the decision of who should be the people who should do the training, should be taken in a meeting of the plenary CSMJ and as far as we know, at least in the document in which it was published, there is no reference to the resolution from the plenary of the CSMJ ”, stressed the president of AJA.
The social networks comment that the judges appointed for training in Portugal are allegedly people close to the president of the CSMJ, among “family and friends”.
“Contrary” to what has been shown on social networks, noted Adalberto Gonçalves, “we have no issue against the fact that close people, relatives of the venerated presiding judge, are included in the list.”
“Our perspective of approach is different, that is, we look at the competencies of the president of the CSMJ and of the different bodies that make up the Judiciary”, he noted.
“Therefore, from then on we understand that the act is already hurt because the CSMJ has several bodies, it has the plenary, which is a collegial body, we have the permanent commission, the inspection and as the singular body the president of the CSMJ”, he explained.
And “the competencies related to training are the plenary’s and without any reference to that we understand that it is a decision that was made by the venerable judge president and that is not correct”, he insisted.
According to the president of AJA, the lack of setting “objective criteria” for the choice of magistrates for training constitutes another concern of the body he leads, recalling that in the said list there are new and old magistrates.
“Because we have a group of other magistrates who are trainers at the National Institute of Judicial Studies (INEJ), for some years now, who would also, eventually, be interested in participating in this training of trainers but who did not have the opportunity to present their candidacy, to compete is because no criteria were set before the selection ”, he lamented.
Adalberto Gonçalves also affirmed that the news of “considerable negative impact”, on the judicial power, registered, in 2020, “tainted” this power of sovereignty “for being the guarantor of the democratic State and of law, is the last moral reserve of society ”.
Last week, AJA sent this protest to the plenary of the CSMJ.
