Dear friends,

In view of the various assertions being made in respect of Bishop Belo's supposed participation in the current ad hoc trial in Jakarta it is important to disseminate widely the following Declaration (as received) that he has made.

(Fr.) Pat Smythe

Declaration

I hereby request all media institutions in East Timor to inform the public the reason why I did not attend the teleconference held from the 16th - 18th of December 2002, to be a witness in the ad-hoc tribunal in Jakarta.

In order to return justice and truth to its appropriate place, I would like to declare the following.

1. I personally never received such information from anybody else to be a witness in the presence of the Ad -hocTribunal.

2. I never got such information from someone else about how, where and when I will give such evidence before such tribunal.

3. Nobody informed me as to which case will I give my testimony; is it the Liquica Church attack, the office of Camara Eclesiastico, or the bishop's residence in Lecidere?

4. I never got such information from somebody else, asking myself to give some evidences of the cases of these and those leaders of Indonesia.

Based on those arguments, I refuse and condemn:

1. All the criticisms about myself for not appearing in the teleconference.

2. The statement that I did not respect the process of ad hoc tribunal has no basis at all. The ad-hoc tribunal indeed did not respect the dignity of the victims and East Timorese people, deciding by absolution of Indonesian leaders and condemnation of the Timorese ( the case of Mr. Abilio Osorio Soares and Eurico Guterres).

By the above consideration, I would like to declare that ;

1. I decided not to attend and even to be witness to the ad-hoc tribunal in Jakarta.

2. I can only give my testimony in the presence of an international tribunal organized by United Nations in East Timor.

Dili, December 20, 2002

Signed:

Mgr. Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, SDB

Titular Bishop of Lorium and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Dili

(Emeritus)

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