THE HAGUE, WILLEMSTAD - The conviction of a member of the opposition party MFK for breaching the duty of confidentiality remains in force. The Supreme Court ruled that today.

The Common Court of Justice found that in September 2014, as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance of the Parliament of Curaçao, the suspect made statements about the content of a closed meeting.

He did that during an interview on Radio Mas and later during a press conference. In doing so, according to the Court, he violated his duty of confidentiality that is regulated in the Rules of Order of the Parliament of Curaçao. The member of Parliament was sentenced to a conditional fine of 1400 Antillean guilders with a probationary period of 2 years.

The suspect appealed in cassation against this judgment to the Supreme Court. The proceedings before the Supreme Court concerned, among other things, the question whether the obligation of confidentiality laid down in the Rules of Procedure is based on "a legal provision" and whether that confidentiality obligation is in accordance with freedom of expression. The Court answered these questions in the affirmative. In the opinion of the Supreme Court that is correct.

All other complaints in cassation do not lead to the judgment being set aside. The conviction therefore remains intact.