Agence France
Presse
February 5, 2003
Indonesian prosecutor seeks 10 years' jail for former Timor commander
A prosecutor
asked Indonesia's human rights court to jail the former military
commander of East Timor for 10 years for failing to prevent massacres
in the
territory in 1999.
Prosecutor
Widodo Supriyadi said Brigadier General Noer Muis, 49, should have
been able to maintain security during and after the UN-held independence
vote
in August that year.
He said
the failure of Muis to anticipate the violence before and after the
vote to separate from Indonesia consisted "a gross violation of human
rights."
The repeated
violence in several locations led to the death of civilians
including women and children, the prosecutor said Wednesday.
Supriyadi
cited the attack by pro-Indonesian militias on refugee-packed
venues in Suai and Dili.
An attack
on a church in Suai left 26 killed, and attacks on the residence of
the Dili bishop and on the Dili diocese led to 13 deaths.
Muis told
reporters after the hearing that "what the prosecutor said was not
in line with the facts in the field."
He said
that under his command, the military in East Timor had done its best
to anticipate the violence.
The trial
resumes on February 17. Judges are not obliged to follow the
prosecutor's sentence recommendation if they find Muis guilty.
The rights
court has convicted two officers, East Timor's former civilian
governor and a militia leader, but has acquitted 10 other security force
members and a civilian. Three senior army officers including Muis are
awaiting judgment.
The local
militias, who were armed and organised by the Indonesian military,
launched a brutal campaign of intimidation before East Timor's vote to
break
away from Indonesia and a revenge campaign afterwards.
An estimated
1,000 people were killed and much of the impoverished territory
was laid to waste. East Timor finally achieved independence in May last
year
after 31 months of United Nations stewardship.
International
rights groups have strongly criticised the previous acquittals
and described the rights court as a sham