Putting justice on trial

Justice

Reports by Patrick Decloitre

Vanuatu’s chief justice, Briton

Charles Vaudin, was officially dismissed late October by President Jean-Marie Leye Lenelgau. In accordance with a Supreme Court ruling, he left Port Vila for neighbouring Noumea a few days later and was not to return until November 26, when the case was to con tinue. On October 31, the president signed a constitutional order gazetted the next day, in which he terminated Vaudin’s appointment as a Supreme Court judge.

“The president dismissed the chief jus tice after he was found guilty of serious misconduct by a Judicial Services Commission,” government lawyer Roger de Robillard said. De Robillard was last March himself declared an undesirable

immigrant by the previous government,

headed by Maxime Carlot Korman, which was toppled on September 30 by a no confidence motion.

In early October, Vanuatu Foreign Minister Willie Jimmy declared Vaudin an “undesirable immigrant”, giving him two hours to leave on a scheduled flight to Australia, but the Supreme Court later prevented the government from deporting him. The court, with two New Zealand

judges. Justices Bruce Robertson and Douglas Dillon, and Briton Justice Faquir Muhammad, ruled that Vaudin be paid his SUS 14,000 monthly salary for October and November, and that travel and lodg ing expenses in New Caledonia be taken care of by the government.

Meanwhile, he is not to contact, direct ly or indirectly, any politician or paramil itary Vanuatu Mobile Force (VMF) mem ber and the government is to appoint a “nominee” for Vaudin’s communications purposes, de Robillard said. “In times of political instability, we can’t afford to have a member of the judiciary trying to bring politicians against one another. It’s not necessary for him to stay in this juris diction. This way, he will stop interfer ing,” he told the court.

Early October, Acting Prime Minister Barak Sope said he sacked Vaudin for “gross misconduct”, accusing him of try ing to undermine an agreement ending a pay revolt by the VMF.

An agreement was signed on October 12 between him and VMF soldiers who had seized and held Sope and the presi dent for several hours. While the agree ment gave amnesty to the soldiers, Vaudin soon after issued warrants to arrest VMF

leaders of this coup de force.

Sope said the government had based its decision on allegations contained in reports filed by a former Australian judge.

Justice Robert Kent, who resigned last year after expressing “concern over the independence of the chief justice” and the International Commission of Jurists.

Vaudin was appointed early 1992 by the Island state’s president under a British-funded contract until 1994, when London refused to continue funding this position. However, the Cultural and Technical Cooperation Agency (CTCA, a worldwide association of French-speak ing countries, mostly funded by France) granted “on an exceptional basis” some SUS 100,000 for Vaudin’s position for the last six months of 1995. Since then, he has been paid by the Vanuatu government.

“Today is a tragedy. Everyone must find a way to provide a proper, just reso lution and some dignity to someone who’s been a chief justice for five years here,”

Justice Robertson said on November 1.

Over the past 12 months, Vanuatu has been plagued with political instability with three changes of government trig gered mostly by accusations of corrup tion. ■