| Subject: 16 ETimorese prisoners appeal in Surabaya
for help Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 17:58:07 +0100 (BST) From: tapol@gn.apc.org (TAPOL) Kabar dari PIJAR 16 East Timorese prisoners in Kalisosok in need of support Jakarta, Solid, (16/9) Sixteen political prisoners now being held in Kalisosok Prison Surabaya have sent an open letter appealing for help to several human rights and humantarian organisations, including the ICRC, Komnas HAM and Solidamor. Three of them, Mario Filipe, Alexander Freitas, and Marcus S. Bello, are suffering from serious ailmants. Mario Filipe has a fractured rib-cage, Freitas has pleurisy and Marcus Belo has TB. Altogether twenty men were captured in Dili by the special police unit, Brimob on 31 May 1997 and accused of trying to sabotage the general elections. They were held in several places of detention - by the Dili police for two months, at the military prison in Baucau for seven months, at a prison in Dili for a month, then sixteen of them were tranferred to Kalisosok on 27 March 1998. During the transfer they were hand-cuffed and blindfolded. During their incarceration by the police in Dili and the military prison in Baucau they were all subjected to torture. The brutality was particularly bad in Baucau where they were kicked, beaten and forced to drink their own urine. 'One of our colleagues died as a result of the torture,' they wrote in their letter. Their physical conditions have worsened because of the lack of medical facilities in Kalisosok. The three sick men have failed to improve, in fact Mario's condition has continued to deteriorate, they wrote. They were denied access to a lawyer of their choice. During their trial in Dili, the lawyer provided by the court did not even attend the hearings. The twenty men were all found guilty and given sentences of eight years or more while one was sentenced to death. The prisoners in Kalisosok have heard nothing about the fate of the colleague who was sentenced to death. For all they know, he may already have been executed. SOLIDAMOR will shortly be sending someone to Kalisosok to check on their conditions. Speaking for SOLIDAMOR, Bonar Tigor Naipospos said that a team of lawyers has been chosen to defend their interests. In addition to what they say in their letter, their circumstances are compounded by the fact that they are far from their families and therefore deprived of family support. Name and age Sentence:
Public Officials Email and Address Information Report received from Solidaritas untuk Penyelesaian Damai Timor Leste (Solidamor) and translated by TAPOL TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign 111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey
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