Received from Joyo Indonesia News

Also: Conspiracy behind results of Timor trials: analysts

AFP, Saturday August 17, 2002

East Timorese call for international human rights tribunal

About 60 human rights activists have demonstrated in the East Timorese capital Dili demanding an international tribunal into the 1999 violence that devastated the former Indonesian province.

Carrying signs reading "We need an international tribunal" and "Where is the justice?", the protesters planned to march on the American, English, Chinese and Indonesian embassies to press their demands Saturday.

They said they were disappointed with the verdicts issued this week by three human rights courts in Jakarta, and called the process a stage show.

The former East Timorese governor, Abilio Soares, received a three-year prison term, while East Timor's former police chief and five other military and police officers were acquitted of gross human rights violations.

The verdicts drew widespread criticism from Indonesian human rights workers as well as from Amnesty International and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.

"We're carrying out this demonstration because of our disappointment toward the court's decisions and also our big disappointment towards Washington for giving support to the court's decision," said one protester, Ivete Oliviera.

Following the verdicts, a White House spokesman praised Indonesia in general terms for trying government and military officials for human rights abuses in East Timor, but did not comment specific on the cases of Soares and the others.

Indonesia set up the rights court to deflect foreign pressure for an international human rights tribunal into the violence which UN and Indonesian human rights inquiries have said was linked to Indonesian security forces.

After this week's verdicts, calls for an international tribunal have resurfaced.

At least 1,000 East Timorese are estimated to have died in 1999 and whole towns were burned to the ground during violence ahead of, and following, the August 30, 1999 ballot in which East Timorese voted to separate from Indonesia.

Agence France Presse 
August 16, 2002

Conspiracy behind results of Timor trials: analysts

By Victor Tjahjadi

Jakarta,

A conspiracy between the military and the Indonesian government was likely behind the acquittal of six military and police officers for gross human rights violations in East Timor, analysts said Friday.

Hendardi, of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, said Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri could not afford to alienate the powerful military.

"There is a possibility of a political conspiracy between the military and the government because the military knows that Megawati heavily needs them," he said.

He said the exoneration of the six men -- all non-East Timorese -- was "seriously disappointing" for the Indonesian legal system.

Legal analyst Andi Asrun of the independent group Judicial Watch said he suspected the government and the military had agreed to "a golden handshake" that benefited both sides while leaving civilian defendants as "scapegoats."

East Timor's last governor, Abilio Soares, received a three-year sentence in the first verdict issued by the human rights courts on Wednesday.

Soares was convicted of failing to control his subordinates from committing crimes against humanity but the sentence was far below the 10 years and six months recommended by prosecutors.

"They agreed to let military defendants walk away free while civilians such as Soares will be sacrificed because he is no longer needed and also because he is an East Timorese," Asrun said.

"If this theory is true, the military clearly has formed a very evil political conspiracy with the government," Asrun told AFP.

On Thursday the court acquitted East Timor's former police commander, Brigadier General Timbul Silaen. Under an international agreement signed by Indonesia, his police force had responsibility for security in East Timor ahead of the August 30, 1999, ballot in which East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia.

The court also acquitted five Indonesian military and police officers accused of failing to prevent a church massacre in Suai town in 1999. A total of 27 people died in the incident.

At least 1,000 East Timorese are estimated to have died in 1999 and whole towns were burnt to the ground.

Indonesia set up the rights court to deflect foreign pressure for an international human rights tribunal into the violence which UN and Indonesian human rights inquiries have said was linked to Indonesian security forces.

Widespread criticism of this week's verdicts has led to renewed calls from human rights agencies for an international tribunal to hear the cases.

Amnesty International and the Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP) strongly criticized the verdicts, describing them as a "grave disappointment" and the outcome of a process which did not conform to international standards.

"In view of the serious problems with the trials in Jakarta, Amnesty International and JSMP believe that it is also the moment for UN to review its decision not to pursue the recommendations of its own International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor to establish an international criminal tribunal," a statement by Amnesty and the JSMP said.

The indictments, they said, failed to reflect "the widespread and systematic nature of the crimes which took place in East Timor in 1999."

The cases have also highlighted the need for Indonesia to cooperate with trials underway in East Timor, where 114 people have already been charged with serious crimes, including crimes against humanity, the statement said.

East Timorese courts have convicted a number of militiamen, some of whom received up to 30-year prison sentences.

But many of the accused are living in Indonesia, which has refused to transfer any of them to East Timor for trial by the UN-established Special Panel for Serious Crimes.

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