UN Indicts 15 Indonesia Soldiers For E Timor War Crimes
JAKARTA, Feb. 4 (AP)--The U.N. on Tuesday indicted 32 people- including
15
Indonesian soldiers - for murdering and torturing East Timorese during
the
country's bloody break with Indonesia in 1999.
It was the largest indictment so far by the U.N. Special Crimes Unit
and
accuses Indonesian officers of crimes against humanity for taking part
in the
violence.
Four officers and Joao Tavares, the head of a pro-Indonesian umbrella
militia
group, were among those charged for crimes allegedly committed at the
time of
a U.N.-sponsored independence referendum in 1999.
The U.N. indictment contradicts the view of Indonesian prosecutors, who
have
argued the military didn't actively participate in the bloodshed but instead
simply failed to prevent the violence that led to the deaths of up to
2,000
Timorese.
Eric MacDonald, a prosecutor with the special crimes unit, acknowledged
that
it will be difficult, if not impossible, to bring the 32 to trial. All
are
believed to be in Indonesia, which so far has refused to honor U.N. arrest
warrants citing its policy not to extradite its nationals.
Such cases, if they go forward, would be tried in East Timor. Previous
cases
involving suspects arrested in East Timor were tried by a three-judge
panel
in Dili headed by a U.N. judge. Appeals were lodged with East Timor's
Supreme
Court.
The U.N. governed East Timor for 2 1/2 years until the territory achieved
independence last May. The U.N. still provides government advisers, several
hundred policemen and about 2,500 peacekeeping troops in the world's newest
nation.
"This is the most important (indictment) filed yet," said Eric
MacDonald, a
prosecutor with the serious crimes unit. "You have the leader of
all the
militias in East Timor being charged and a military commander indicted.
These
are not minor offenders."
Filing the indictments is important despite the barriers to a trial,
MacDonald said.
"There is a certain sense of relief for the victims' families,"
MacDonald
said. "Even though there might never be a trial, there still is a
sense that
the U.N.is doing something to bring these people to justice."
The indictment paints a picture of top Indonesian officers working with
their
proxy militias to sow chaos in East Timor in 1999. They tortured
pro-independence leaders, killed innocent civilians and forced entire
villages to flee, according to the document.
The indictment said that Lt. Col. Siagian, the military commander for
Bobonaro district and Lt. Sutrisno, his intelligence officer, were directly
responsible for the deaths of six civilians in April 1999. It said that
Joao
Tavares, the commander of the pro-Indonesian East Timor Militia Forces,
issued the order to kill the men.
The men also were charged with the killing of two schoolteachers and
a
village chief in the hamlet of Marco.
A spokesman for the Indonesian military in Jakarta could not be reached
for
comment about the indictments.
Nearly 150 suspects have so far been charged by the U.N., usually in
groups
of about a dozen. The suspects have included at least 24 Indonesian soldiers.
About two dozen former militiamen have been tried and convicted in the
past
two years.
In a separate series of trials in Jakarta, 18 Indonesian military and
police
officials have been charged with war crimes. So far, four have been convicted
and 11 acquitted.