Journalists Oscar Salsinha and Raimundo Oki were given a $150 fine each at the Dili District Court on March 14 following the accusation of slanderous denunciations over an article published about a car accident in Oe-Cusse.
The Dili District Court absolved the two journalists accused of slanderous denunciations but issued them to pay $150 in compensation each.
The two journalists, Oscar Salsinha from Suara Timor Lorosae (STL) and Raimundo Oki from Independente, were accused by the Public Ministry of slanderous denunciations following stories published in January and February last year.
On 14 March the Dili District Court gave the accused a $450 fine to be shared between the two journalists and the journalists' source Mateus Sufa, with each to person to pay $150.
According to lawyer Cancio Ximenes the two journalists will pay compensation because after the stories the Prosecutor could not sleep well and the case impacted him and his family.
"According to my interpretation, they did not say they committed a crime, so they must be free from civil responsibility," explained Ximenes after listening to the final decision at TDD (14/03) in Mandarin, Dili. About the possibility of an appeal, he said he would consult his clients.
The two journalists were accused by the Public Ministry of slanderous denunciations after a story was given to STL and published on 30 January, 2012 with the title "Accident case, Oe-Cusse Prosecutor receives bribe."
The other story, published in The Independente on 2 February, 2012 had the title "Three people dead in a Traffic Accident in Oe-Cusse, Driver Flees to Indonesia, Employer Target of Protest by the Victims Family."
According to Article 285 of the Penal Code, those accused of slanderous denunciations can be sentenced with up to three years in prison or with a fine.
The story involved a traffic accident in Nonan village in Oe-Cuse on 18 September 2011, which resulted in the deaths of three people. It's believed following the accident the driver fled to Indonesia.
Before the first hearing of the case on 28 February at the Dili District Court, the Timor-Leste Press Club President Jose Belo said the Public Ministry should not accuse and make judgements against journalists directly but should accuse the media institution the journalists work for.
"If they accuse journalists, we create a precedent that in the future journalists will run and abandon the media and free of the press which the state included in the constitution will be abandoned," said TLPC President Jose Belo (05/03) over the phone.