ORANJESTAD — The Communal Court of Justice will give its decision on the case, which party- leader Rudy Lampe (RED) instituted in forcing the Public Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the Minister of Public Health Booshi Wever (MEP).
The minister had to give an account before the judges of the court on ‘his side of the story’. Lampe had filed a complaint on December 7th, 2007 because Wever had insinuated that he was guilty of pedophilia while he was a priest. Lampe had requested the acting Attorney General Nico Jörg at the time to prosecute the minister for abuse or slanderous imputation. After that, he never heard from the Public Prosecutor for 1½ years. Therefore, Lampe decided to start a proceeding with the Communal Court to obligate the Public Prosecutor to prosecute. However, shortly afterwards, Lampe received a response from the Public Prosecutor that the investigation would be resumed. The explanation given for the delay was that the national criminal investigation department was understaffed.
Attorney General Rob Pietersz dismissed the case after hearing minister Wever ‘as elections were being held’, at least that’s how Lampe explained it. The Public Prosecutor confirms that the Attorney General ‘did not see any reason to prosecute’. We are now awaiting the court’s verdict", said the spokesperson. In a reaction, Lampe informs this newspaper that he could not make a good assessment as to which decision the court would take. "It’s difficult to say".
Civil case
At the beginning of July, Lampe won the case against Minister Booshi Wever on his statements in the States and to the press. Wever had repeatedly called Lampe a pedophile. The judge ordered the minister to place a rectification in the Amigoe as well as in Bon Dia Aruba and Diario under penalty of 5000 florins per day. Wever lodged an appeal against the verdict. He declared that he possessed a tape recording on which ‘young people’ are supposedly making damaging statements against Lampe.