Chief Justice Arief Hidayat meeting with the President of the Supreme Court of Monaco Didier Linotte, Director of Judicial Services of Monaco Laurent Anselmi, and Secretary General the Supreme Court of Monaco Patrick Sommer at Palais de Justicia, Monaco. Photo by Humas MK.

In order to explore collaboration between the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia (MKRI) and the Supreme Court of Monaco, Chief Justice Arief Hidayat visited Monaco at the invitation of the Supreme Court of Monaco. The visit was a follow-up of a previous meeting between the chief justice and the Vice President of the Supreme Court of Monaco Jean-Michael Lemoyne de Forges during the Conference of European Constitutional Courts in 2017 in Georgia.

With Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah and the Functional Official on Politics of the Indonesian Embassy in Paris Cicilia Rusdiharini, Chief Justice Arief was welcomed by President of the Supreme Court of Monaco Didier Linotte, Director of Judicial Services of Monaco Laurent Anselmi, and Secretary General the Supreme Court of Monaco Patrick Sommer at Palais de Justicia, Monaco on Friday (23/3/2019).

At the meeting, Laurent Anselmi said revealed that Monaco is one of the first countries to annul laws, a fact unknown to many. Monaco, known as a micro-city or city-state, established its Supreme Court in 1911, to the function and authority of the Constitutional Court.

“The Supreme Court of Monaco functions just as a constitutional court as it has constitutional and administrative authorities and control function, including on treaties. In addition, it is also authorized to control the administrative legality of laws and regulations made by the Government, state institutions, and administrative officials,” said Didier Linotte, who is a professor of public law.

During the meeting, the three discussed and exchanged ideas related to the legal system in both countries. In contrast to Indonesia and other countries, parties who can apply for revocation of laws or administrative actions to the Supreme Court of Monaco are not limited to Monaco citizens only, but also foreign nationals or residents outside of Monaco.

In the meeting, various other topics were discussed, such as the separation of powers in Monaco, the structure of the Supreme Court of Monaco, and Pancasila as a reference in judicial review in the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia.

In the meeting, Justice Arief proposed collaboration with the Supreme Court of Monaco in the form of information exchange related to landmark decisions and requests for internship opportunities for MKRI employees if cooperation between MKRI and the Pantheon Sorbonne University (Paris-1) could be carried out. Meanwhile, Didier Linotte and Laurent Anselmi were very interested in the explanation related to ICTsystems and applications implemented by MKRI, so they requested related materials for further study.

Before ending the meeting, Justice Arief invited Didier Linotte to attend and speak in the general lecture for the international symposium to be held by the Indonesian Constitutional Court in September. Didier Linotte accepted the invitation and expressed his willingness to come to Indonesia as part of cooperation with MKRI. (SH/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)