WILLEMSTAD – The Administrative Court (LAR) in Willemstad has reopened the case filed by Max Martina against the Minister of Justice over access to annual reports of the Curaçao Police Force (KPC) for the years 2018–2023. Martina claims that his request for the documents was silently denied by the ministry.

During the recent hearing, the minister’s lawyer argued that no such annual reports exist. However, this claim raised questions since Martina did receive a police annual report in 2018, albeit only after waiting 14 months.

The court now wants clarity on whether the government conducted a sufficiently thorough search for the requested documents. According to the judge, neither the case file nor the hearing made it clear how the investigation was carried out.

The minister has been ordered to provide, by October 23, a detailed explanation of which officials at the ministry and KPC were consulted, how inquiries were made, and whether both paper and digital archives were examined. The ministry must also specify what search terms were used and what responses were received.

Martina will then have until November 20 to respond. Only after that will the court decide how the case will proceed.

By reopening the investigation, the court signaled doubts about whether the minister acted with due care in rejecting the information request.