Received from Joyo Indonesia News
Agence France
Presse
August 6, 2003
US disappointed with Indonesian rights tribunal, Timor activists rage
The United
States said it was disappointed with the work of an Indonesian
tribunal into atrocities in East Timor, after it jailed a convicted general
for
just three years -- a sentence branded by activists here as "a joke."
The United
States handed down its verdict despite the fact that, in jailing
Major General Adam Damiri, the Jakarta tribunal had ignored an acquittal
recommendation by prosecutors.
Damiri was
the last and most senior of 18 defendants to appear before the
court over the Indonesian army-backed wave of bloody militia violence
against
East Timorese independence supporters in 1999.
"The
United States is disappointed with the performance and record of the
Indonesian ad hoc tribunal," said State Department deputy spokesman
Philip
Reeker.
"We
believe that the overall process of the tribunal has been flawed and
lacked credibility," he said, though he added that US officials were
pleased it
did at least end with a conviction.
But he also
pointed out that the three-year sentence did not meet the minimum
term recommended under Indonesian law.
"If
you look at all of the cases of this ad hoc tribunal together, I think
it's been a very disappointing process in terms of rendering justice onto
those
who've committed horrible atrocities in East Timor just a few years ago,"
said
Reeker.
US-based East Timor activists ridiculed the three-year jail term.
"The
punishment does not fit the crime," said John Miller, spokesman for
the
East Timor Action Network.
"Today's
three-year sentence for General Damiri is a joke and has done
nothing to boost the laughable credibility of Indonesia's court. The
international
community has been taken for a ride. The question is: what is it going
to do
about it?"
Damiri,
a former regional commander responsible for security in East Timor
while it was still Indonesian territory, branded the verdict as political,
vowing to appeal.
The judge
in the case ruled that Damiri should have taken immediate
corrective steps to address any violations by his subordinates.
Unlike US
activists, Jakarta-based campaigners welcomed the verdict, after
previously dismissing the Jakarta court as a sham.
Indonesian
Foundation of Legal Aid chairman Munarman said, "This is a rare
verdict and this is definitively a milestone in the upholding of human
rights
here."
He praised the judges as having shown "extraordinary courage".
Muhammad
Asrun who heads Judicial Watch called the court's decision "very
important".
But he added
that three years was not a long enough sentence "because he
(Damiri) held the primary responsibility over security in East Timor".
The court
was set up to deflect pressure for an international tribunal into
the bloodshed but international and local rights groups have called it
a sham.
Eleven security
force members and one civilian have been acquitted by the
court. Five people -- two army officers, a former Dili police chief, the
former
civilian governor and an ex-militia chief -- were ordered jailed but remain
free pending appeals.
Damiri has
also been indicted by UN-funded prosecutors in East Timor for
crimes against humanity