DILI (TOP) – The ranking of press freedom in Timor-Leste shows good progress every year, but law enforcers, especially the prosecutors, have yet to implement the Timor-Leste Press Law which has existed since 2014.
Journalist from the online media hatutan.com, Rogério Pereira Cárceres now has to face a summons from the Timor-Leste attorney general's office to give a statement about the journalistic products that have been published in this online media.
The Timor-Leste Media Law in article 31 number 4 states that, the editorial board led by the editor-in-chief is fully responsible for all journalistic products that have been published, but the attorney general's office in Colmera, Dili until today has not known about the existence of this media law so that journalists in the field are always the target of criminal consequences.
The proof is, the Office of Inspection of the Public Prosecutor's Office has notified journalist Rogério Pereira Cárceres to appear before Thursday 22 June 2023.
Summons number 82/IMP/2023, Dili, 19 June 2023, was signed directly by the Secretary for Inspection at the Attorney General's Office, Eliana Flora Pereira regarding the sighting notification.
According to a report by Hatutan.com, journalist Rogério Pereira Cárceres accompanied by his chief editor, Francisco Belo Simões, arrived at the attorney general's office in Colmera at 9:45 local time. And journalist Cárceres gave statements to a public prosecutor for over an hour.
"I was asked by a public prosecutor about a news published on the online media Hatutan.com, and I was asked not to mention the news case because of the secret of justice," said journalist Cárceres as published by Hatutan.com.
Responding to this, the chief editor of Hatutan.com as well as a member of the Timor-Leste Press Council, Francisco Belo Simões explained that all entities wishing to summon journalists must comply with the spirit of the Timor-Leste Media Law number 5/2014 and Decree Law 25/2015.
The former editor-in-chief of the Suara Timor-Lorosa'e (STL) daily newspaper added that in general journalism practice, the criminal responsibility for journalistic products that have been published in the media is not the journalist but the chief editor. Therefore, Simões asked the organs of sovereignty, politicians and especially law enforcers that if they feel aggrieved by news reports, journalists must use the right of reply contained in the Timor-Leste media law in article 34.
The editor-in-chief of online media hatutan.com Francisco Belo Simões has also received a summons from the attorney general's office, and will go before Friday 23 June 2023.
