Minister of Justice (East Timor)

Minister of Justice
Minister of Justice
Ministro da Justiça (Portuguese); Ministru Justisa (Tetum);
	Coat of Arms of East Timor
	Flag of East Timor
	Incumbent; Amândio Benevides [de]; since 1 July 2023
	Ministry of Justice
Style	Minister; (informal); His Excellency; (formal, diplomatic)
Member of	Constitutional Government
Reports to	Prime Minister
Appointer	President of East Timor; (following proposal by the Prime Minister of East Timor)
Inaugural holder	António Duarte Carvarino Mau Lear [de]; (1975); Gita Honwana-Welch; (2000);
Formation	1975 / 2000
Website	Ministry of Justice

The Minister of Justice (Portuguese: Ministro da Justiça, Tetum: Ministru Justisa) is a senior member of the Constitutional Government of East Timor heading the Ministry of Justice.

Functions

The Minister has the power and the duty:

to implement the policy defined for the Ministry of Justice;
to ensure relations between the Government and the other organs of the State in the area of responsibility of the Ministry.^[1]

Falling within those powers and duties are responsibilities such as overseeing the recruitment of judges, prosecutors, and public defenders.^[2]

Where the Minister is in charge of the subject matter of a government statute, the Minister is also required, together with the Prime Minister, to sign the statute.^[1]

Incumbent

The incumbent minister is Amândio Benevides [de].^[3]^[4]

List of ministers

The following individuals have been appointed as Minister of Justice:^[5]

No.		Minister	Government (Prime Minister)	Term start	Term end	Term in office
1	Fretilin	António Duarte Carvarino Mau Lear [de]	1975 CoM (Lobato)	1 December 1975	17 December 1975	16 days
2	United Nations	Gita Honwana-Welch	I UNTAET (Vieira de Mello)	15 July 2000	20 September 2001	1 year, 67 days
3	Fretilin	Ana Maria Pessoa	II UNTAET (Alkatiri)	20 September 2001	20 May 2002	1 year, 180 days
3		Ana Maria Pessoa	I Constitutional (Alkatiri)	20 May 2002	19 March 2003	1 year, 180 days
4		Domingos Sarmento [de]	I Constitutional (Alkatiri)	19 March 2003	10 July 2006	4 years, 142 days
			II Constitutional (Ramos-Horta)	10 July 2006	19 May 2007
			III Constitutional (da Silva)	19 May 2007	8 August 2007
5	PSD	Lúcia Lobato	IV Constitutional (Gusmão)	8 August 2007	March 2012 (suspended)	5 years, 0 days (incl. suspension)
(acting)	CNRT	Ivo Valente [de]	IV Constitutional (Gusmão)	March 2012	8 August 2012	c. 145 days
6		Dionísio Babo Soares	V Constitutional (Gusmão)	8 August 2012	16 February 2015	2 years, 192 days
7		Ivo Valente [de]	VI Constitutional (Araújo)	16 February 2015	3 October 2017	2 years, 229 days
8	UDT	Maria Ângela Guterres Viegas Carrascalão	VII Constitutional (Alkatiri)	3 October 2017	22 June 2018	262 days
9	Independent	Manuel Cárceres da Costa	VIII Constitutional (Ruak)	22 June 2018	22 March 2022	3 years, 273 days
10		Tiago Amaral Sarmento	VIII Constitutional (Ruak)	22 March 2022	1 July 2023	1 year, 101 days
11	CNRT	Amândio Benevides [de]	IX Constitutional (Gusmão)	1 July 2023	20 January 2024	203 days

References

^ ^a ^b "Constitution of East Timor, Section 117" (PDF). Government of Timor-Leste. 20 May 2002. Retrieved 17 January 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Silva, Kelly Cristiane da; Simião, Daniel Schroeter (2007). Timor-Leste por trás do palco: cooperação internacional e a dialética da formação do estado (in Portuguese). Editora UFMG. ISBN 9788570415981.
^ Martins, Filomeno (30 June 2023). "The list of structure of IX Constitutional Government announced in Official Gazette". Tatoli. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
^ Sousa, Nelson de (1 July 2023). "PR Horta sei akompaña serbisu IX Governu" [President Horta will accompany the work of the IX Government] (in Tetum). Tatoli. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
^ "História do Ministério: Ministros da Justiça Anteriores de Timor-Leste – Desde 2002" [History of the Ministry: Former Ministers of Justice of Timor-Leste – Since 2002]. Ministry of Justice (in Portuguese). Government of East Timor. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.

External links

Media related to Ministers of Justice of East Timor at Wikimedia Commons

Ministry of Justice – official site (in Portuguese and Tetum)

[section_117-1] "Constitution of East Timor, Section 117" (PDF). Government of Timor-Leste. 20 May 2002. Retrieved 17 January 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[2] Silva, Kelly Cristiane da; Simião, Daniel Schroeter (2007). Timor-Leste por trás do palco: cooperação internacional e a dialética da formação do estado (in Portuguese). Editora UFMG. ISBN 9788570415981.

[tatoli_2023-06-30-3] Martins, Filomeno (30 June 2023). "The list of structure of IX Constitutional Government announced in Official Gazette". Tatoli. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

[tatoli_2023-07-01-4] Sousa, Nelson de (1 July 2023). "PR Horta sei akompaña serbisu IX Governu" [President Horta will accompany the work of the IX Government] (in Tetum). Tatoli. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

[mj_former_ministers-5] "História do Ministério: Ministros da Justiça Anteriores de Timor-Leste – Desde 2002" [History of the Ministry: Former Ministers of Justice of Timor-Leste – Since 2002]. Ministry of Justice (in Portuguese). Government of East Timor. Archived from the original on 12 August 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Government ministers and ministries of East Timor
Ministers	Prime Minister Presidency of the Council of Ministers Agriculture and Fisheries Defense Education, Youth and Sport Finance Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Health Higher Education, Science and Culture Interior Justice Petroleum and Minerals Planning and Territory Public Works Social Solidarity and Inclusion State Administration Tourism, Trade and Industry Transport and Communications
Ministries	Presidency of the Council of Ministers Agriculture and Fisheries Defense Education, Youth and Sport Finance Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Health Higher Education, Science and Culture Interior Justice Petroleum and Minerals Planning and Territory Public Works Social Solidarity and Inclusion State Administration Tourism, Trade and Industry Transport and Communications
Incumbent Constitutional Government

Minister of Justice
Ministro da Justiça (Portuguese) Ministru Justisa (Tetum)
Coat of Arms of East Timor
Flag of East Timor
Incumbent Amândio Benevides [de] since 1 July 2023
Ministry of Justice
Style	Minister (informal) His Excellency (formal, diplomatic)
Member of	Constitutional Government
Reports to	Prime Minister
Appointer	President of East Timor (following proposal by the Prime Minister of East Timor)
Inaugural holder	António Duarte Carvarino Mau Lear [de] (1975) Gita Honwana-Welch (2000)
Formation	1975 / 2000
Website	Ministry of Justice