The Minister of Justice of East Timor, Sergio Hornai, referred the decision on a possible pardon to former priest Richard Daschbach, convicted of sexual abuse of minors, to the President of the country, José Ramos-Horta.
© Lusa
10/11/2026
by
Lusa
Richard Daschbach
O minister of Justice of Timor-Leste, Sergio Hornai, today referred to the Timorese President the decision on a possible pardon to former priest Richard Daschbach, convicted in the country of sexual abuse of minors.
“I refer to the proper and exclusive competence of the Timorese President [José Ramos-Horta] to decide on this matter. It is true that several people expressed concern about their age and state of health”, said Justice Minister Sérgio Hornai, when asked by journalists about whether the former priest was included in the list of pardons to be presented to the head of state.
The President of Timor-Leste usually grants pardons and commutes of sentence on the occasion of the celebration of the proclamation of independence on 28 November, and on 20 May, when independence was restored after the end of the Indonesian occupation.
Asked about the total number of pardons envisaged, the minister explained that sometimes the list presented earlier is reused, adding that he has not yet received a new list from prisons.
In May, the government presented a pardon proposal for 37 inmates, including the former American priest.
Several organizations called on José Ramos-Horta not to grant the pardon, claiming that the former priest never apologized to the victims.
Richard Daschbach, a native of Pittsburgh, has lived in East Timor since 1996. He founded children's homes in Topu Honis, in the Oecusse enclave, on the Indonesian side of the island of Timor.
In December 2021, the former father, currently 88, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for several crimes of sexual abuse against minors in East Timor. In the United States, he also faced charges related to illegal sexual behavior.