Received from Joyo Indonesian News

Trial Of Alleged Killer Of NZ Peacekeeper To Continue

JAKARTA (AP)--An Indonesian judge Tuesday dismissed defense appeals and ruled that the trial of an Indonesian militiaman accused of killing a New Zealand peacekeeper in East Timor should continue.

Judge I Ningah Suriada overruled lawyers for defendant Yacobus Bere who had argued that an Indonesian court had no jurisdiction over the case.

Bere is accused of murdering Pvt. Leonard William Manning last year in an attack close to the border with the Indonesian province of West Timor. Prosecutors are preparing to indict three additional suspects.

Manning was serving with a U.N. force dispatched to East Timor to restore order after militiamen ravaged the territory when it voted for independence from Indonesian rule in September 1999.

Bere, along with other pro-Indonesian militiamen, fled to West Timor when peacekeepers arrived.

If Bere is convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. [end]

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