The Northern Marianas House of Representatives has been left on the sidelines just watching the impeachment trial of CNMI Governor Ralph Torres after the Senate did not allow its team of prosecutors to present their case.
CNMI Governor Ralph Torres being sworn in in December 2015 Photo: RNZI Mark Rabago
Opposition leader and Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate, Christina Sablan, has called the proceedings a "travesty of justice."
She said there were no prosecutors because the Senate leadership rejected the team of House prosecutors that House Speaker Edmund Villagomez had appointed.
The lawmaker said there was also no evidence presented because the Senate leadership had rejected the entire House impeachment record - all 8,000 pages and hours of video-recorded witness testimonies.
That meant the Senate had heard only the governor's side through his defence attorneys, she said.
Sablan said the House's hands were "unjustly tied" by Senate rules that were drafted by the governor's counsel, in collusion with Torres' allies in the Senate.
She added because there were no prosecutors, there was no cross-examination of any of the governor's witnesses and therefore the trial was rendered a farce.
Torres' lawyers completed the presentation of their defence and closing arguments before the Senate yesterday.
The Senate is expected to vote whether or not to convict Torres of the Articles of Impeachment on Wednesday, May 18.
Three senators - Paul Manglona, Edith DeLeon Guerrero, and Teresita Santos - have informed Senate President Jude Hofschneider they are temporarily recusing themselves from the impeachment proceedings until the Superior Court hears and rules on pending motions in a lawsuit requesting the court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the Senate impeachment trial.
Manglona, Bruce Lee Jorgensen, and Carmen Patricia Deleon Guerrero earlier sued the Senate in the Superior Court in a last-ditch attempt to temporarily halt the impeachment trial.