Agence France
Presse
November 20, 2002
10-year jail terms sought for former Dili police and military chiefs
JAKARTA
Prosecutors
at Indonesia's human rights court on Wednesday demanded 10-year
jail sentences for the former police and military chiefs in the East Timor
capital of Dili for failing to prevent atrocities three years ago.
In separate
hearings, prosecutors asked judges to sentence former Dili
police chief Lieutenant Colonel Hulman Gultom and former Dili district
military commander Lieutenant Colonel Sujarwo to 10 years in jail.
Prosecutor
Nasir Maksum said Gultom, 51, failed to anticipate and prevent
an attack by pro- Indonesia guerrillas on the refugee-packed house of
independence activist Manuel Carrascalao on April 17, 1999.
"The
defendant should have been able to prevent or at least anticipate the
April 17, 1999 incident... but as head of police operations in Dili, the
defendant allowed it to take place," Maksum told the court.
He said 12 people were killed and many others wounded.
Maksum said
Gultom had been "unable to control his subordinates, especially
in assuring security, had been unable to forecast the impact of government
policies on the local population and did not take the perpetrators to
justice."
In another
court, prosecutor Maju Ambarita said Sujarwo had failed to
anticipate and prevent attacks on the refugee-packed Dili diocese and
residence of Dili Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo in April 1999.
Prosecutors
have said at least two people were killed at the diocese while
13 others were slain in at the bishop's residence.
Ambarita
also said that Sujarwo had failed to seek assistance from his
superiors even though "the military was clearly no longer able to
control
the situation."
Gultom and
Sujarwo are two of 18 military and police officers, officials
and civilians who have faced charges of gross human rights violations
in
April and September 1999.
In widely
criticised verdicts, the rights court has already acquitted six
officers including the territory's former police chief, and sentenced
the
former governor to just three years in jail. The others are still on trial.
Pro-Jakarta
local militias, who were armed and organised by the Indonesian
military, launched a brutal campaign of intimidation before East Timor's
August 1999 vote to break away from Indonesia and carried out revenge
attacks afterwards.
An estimated 1,000 people were killed.
Gultom's
hearing will resume in a week while Sujarwo's trial will resume on
November 26. Judges do not have to follow the prosecutors' sentence
recommendations if they find the defendants guilty.