/ 11 September 2001

GUINEA-BISSAU PRESIDENT SACKS THREE JUDGES

GUINEA-Bissau President Kumba Yala has sacked three supreme court judges in an ongoing battle between the country’s executive and judiciary. The dismissals were made by a secret presidential decree on Monday, an official source said. Among the three sacked judges was deputy president of the supreme court Venancio Martins. Last Friday Martins declared that the court intended to pursue president Yala for “menaces, slander and meddling in internal judicial affairs”. The judge also reproached the president for comments he made late last month when he described the supreme court judges as “false and mediocre judges, corrupt and untruthful”. – AFP