Untitled Document

April 14, 2003
Jakarta Post

Prosecutors demand ten years' jail for former East Timor military·

JAKARTA (JP) Prosecutors on Monday asked the Tribunal Court to sentence an
Indonesian general to ten years in prison for crimes against humanity
during East Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta in 1999.

Tono Suratman, a former military chief in East Timor, had "clearly and
convincingly failed to prevent or control" a mass rally by militia groups
in Dili on April 17 that year, said chief prosecutor Gabrille Simangunsong.

The rally prompted an attack on the house of Manuel Carrascalao in Dili
which killed at least 12 people including Carrascalao's 16-year-old
son,AFP,/i> reported.

Suratman, a member of the army elite Kopassus special forces, also failedto
prevent the attack on a refugee-packed church in Liquica on April 6 by
soldiers and pro-Jakarta militiamen in which 22 people died, Simangunsong said.

"The defendant knew that the situation in East Timor was grave ... he
should not have given permission for the rally to take place," he told
therights court.

Suratman's next hearing is scheduled for April 23. The judges are not
obliged to follow the sentence recommendation if they find him guilty.

Indonesia, under international pressure to account for the bloodshed, set
up the rights court to hear cases against 18 defendants.

The court, in widely criticised verdicts, has acquitted 10 security
forcemembers and a civilian.

Five people -- two army officers, a former Dili police chief, the former
civilian governor and an ex-militia chief -- have been ordered jailed. All
are free pending appeals.

Suratman and one other general are still awaiting verdicts.

Prosecutors in East Timor have separately indicted Suratman and numerous
other Indonesian officers for crimes against humanity, but Jakarta refuses
to hand any of them over.

Pro-Jakarta militiamen organised by the Indonesian army waged a campaign of
intimidation before East Timorese voted in August 1999 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.