Parties petitioning tenth amendment seeking Constitutional court judges’ recusal |28 September 2022

Legal Counsels representing the Seychelles Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman and the Bar Association of Seychelles who have filed a petition before the Constitutional court, during the first mention yesterday requested that the panel of Justices recuse themselves from the matter.

The Constitutional Court Justices assigned to the matter comprise Chief Justice Rony Govinden, Justice Mohan Burhan and Justice Brassel Adeline, three of the nine Justices assigned to the court.

During the brief session yesterday, CJ Govinden noted that they see no grounds for their recusal, although he advised Legal Counsels for the petitioners, namely, Divino Sabino, Conrad Lablache and George Robert made the request to file a formal motion stating and substantiating the grounds of objection towards the panel hearing the case by October 11, when the parties are due back in court.

As per Ombudsperson Nichole Tirant-Gherardi, recusal is a legal modality or technique whereby, if one party feels as though a judge has knowledge, or is implicated in a matter before them, to remove themselves from the case and from deciding the matter at hand.

“The fact that the three institutions who have a Constitutional responsibility to safeguard the Constitution feel as though the amendment to the Constitution was done in a way which we do not feel is the correct way, is the reason why we are seeking the courts to rectify this, or to provide guidance in as to how things should be done in future,” Mrs Tirant Gherardi said.

“All three institutions hold the same beliefs and view things in the same manner,” Mrs Tirant-Gherardi noted.

Counsel representing the Speaker of the National Assembly and the government Muhammad Saley noted that his clients will be “objecting strongly to the petition”.

Laura Pillay