RI envoy on trial in Belgium

JAKARTA: Head of the Indonesian Mission to the European Community, Abdurrachman Mattalitti, is facing charges in Belgium court for wrongful dismissal of a female employee at his office.

A document sent by the plaintiff to legislator Djoko Susilo at the House of Representatives Commission I overseeing foreign affairs said on Friday that Abdurrachman had been summoned to appear before the Labour Court of Brussels next Tuesday to hear the case.

In the document, Maria C.J. Pascual is questioning the envoy's decision to dismiss her after she took 11 days of leave to appear in court in the Philippines over a family matter.

Pascual, according to the letter, claimed the dismissal was illegitimate because she had obtained permission to leave and the warning letters had been issued while she was in the Philippines, while she was unable to respond. --JP