CANBERRA, Australia – East Timor says it will ask an international court in The Hague, Netherlands, to order Australia to return documents seized by the Australian secret service relating to a legal dispute between the two countries.
East Timorese Minister of State Agio Pereira said in a statement that his government will ask the Permanent Court of Arbitration on Monday for an interim order requiring Australia to hand the documents to the court.
Australian agents last month raided the homes in Australia of a lawyer and a former spy who intended to allege in the same court that Australia had bugged the East Timorese Cabinet ahead of sensitive oil and gas revenue-sharing negotiations.
East Timor wants a revenue-sharing agreement signed in 2006 ruled invalid.
Australian Attorney General George Brandis could not be immediately reached for comment.
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