[No final
verdict just yet!]
July 01, 2003
Claims that army fuelled E.Timor atrocities are "fantasy": General
JAKARTA
(AFP): A general on trial before a human rights court on Tuesday
rejected allegations that troops fuelled the 1999 atrocities in East Timor
as "fantasy."
Major-General
Adam Damiri is the last and highest-ranking official to
appear before the court, accused of crimes against humanity during East
Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta's rule.
The court
seemed certain at some later date formally to acquit Damiri after
prosecutors on June 5 announced they were dropping charges against him.
In
spite of that shock decision judges decided to continue the trial.
The general
then spent 30 minutes reading a defence plea in which he
described accusations against the armed forces in East Timor as "fantasy"
and lies.
"From
the series of trials of my subordinate commanders it has never been
proven that any members of the TNI (armed forces) have been involved in
any
unrest prior during and after the poll," he said, referring to the
independence referendum in August 1999 which was organised by the United
Nations.
The militias
waged a campaign of intimidation before East Timorese voted
for independence, and a scorched-earth revenge campaign afterwards. At
least 1,000 people are estimated to have died and whole towns were burnt
to
the ground. Indonesia refuses to hand anyone over to prosecutors in East
Timor.
Damiri depicted
the 1999 violence as a civil war between pro- and
anti-independence groups, with the military striving to keep the peace.
"Soldiers acted quickly to prevent unrest from spreading, evacuate
victims
and arrest culprits. Otherwise the death toll would have been far higher,"
he said.
The general
hit out at groups which "noisily pointed fingers at TNI and
cornered the TNI." Portugal, East Timor's former ruler which bowed
out a
year before Indonesia's 1975 invasion of the territory, had been "crowing
randomly," he said.
Damiri in
1999 headed the regional military command overseeing East Timor
and other areas. He is now on duty in Aceh province, where the military
is
mounting a major offensive against separatist rebels.
The defence
was to continue making its submission Tuesday afternoon, with
prosecutors to respond next week. It was not clear when the court would
formally issue its verdict.