The Jakarta Post [online] December 11, 2002

Court delays sentencing police chief over East Timor violence

JAKARTA (JP): The ad hoc human rights court delayed Wednesday sentencing a senior police official over charges stemming from East Timor violence in 1999, saying it needed to hear further testimony from witnesses.

Lt. Col. Hulman Gultom, the former police chief of Dili, is accused of failing to prevent pro-Jakartamilitiamen from massacring at least 12 pro-independence supporters in the city on April, 17, 1999.

He was due to be sentenced Wednesday, but Judge Adriani Nurdin said the court needed to hear more testimony from East Timorese witnesses, including former Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo.

The judge said the court planned to use video-conferencing technology to enable the witnesses to testify without leaving East Timor.

Gultom's trial is the latest in a series designed to bring those responsible for the violence to justice.

So far, seven Indonesian officers have been cleared of all charges. Only two of the accused, former governor Abilio Soares and militia leader Eurico Guterres have been found guilty and sentenced.Both are East Timorese civilians.

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