Received from Joyo Indonesian News
The New York Times Sunday, June 8, 2003
Indonesia Wants to Acquit General in Human Rights Case
By JANE PERLEZ
JAKARTA,
Indonesia, June 7 - Indonesian prosecutors told a human rigghts
court this week that one of the nation's most senior military officers
was
not guilty of crimes against humanity during the violence that engulfed
East Timor four years ago, and they asked that he be acquitted of all
charges.
The unusual
request means that a government tribunal established last year
under international pressure to try Indonesian soldiers for their brutality
against East Timorese independence groups is unlikely to pass any serious
sentences.
The prosecution's
move was interpreted as one of several signs of the
reassertiveness of the military here, and of the continuing lack of serious
civilian control of an army that ruled until the collapse of President
Suharto's government in 1998.
The Bush
administration, eager to increase American influence in the
world's most populous Muslim country and to keep Indonesia on its side
during the campaign against terror, has made initial steps to renew
relations with the military after ties were cut because of human rights
abuses in East Timor.
The prosecution
told the special tribunal on Thursday that Maj. Gen. Adam
Damiri, who was the commander in East Timor at the time of a
military-backed rampage by militia groups in September 1999, should be
acquitted of all charges.
General
Damiri is now chief of operations for the Indonesian military. He
failed to appear at four of his scheduled court dates for sentencing
proceedings on the East Timor charges because of his duties organizing
the
army's new offensive against separatist rebels in the northern province
of
Aceh.
As one reason
for a not-guilty verdict, the prosecutor, Sarani Hozie, said
that General Damiri had been awarded a medal for his service in East Timor.
"Moreover, the defendant is polite in court and never obstructs the
proceedings," Mr. Hozie said.
In one hearing
at the tribunal, where the public space is usually packed
with uniformed members of the army, a judge submitted a copy of a letter
written by General Damiri to his superior on the success of the
military-backed militia that was attacking pro-independence groups. The
letter was not included in the prosecutors' case.
Another
hearing for General Damiri will be held next month. It would be
highly unlikely that the judges would rule against the prosecution's
request, lawyers here said.
General
Damiri was the most senior and last of 18 soldiers and militiamen,
as well as a few civilians, who were brought before the court.
Of these
defendants, 12 have been acquitted. The five who were convicted
included two soldiers, the most senior of whom, Brig. Gen. M. Noer Muis,
received a sentence of five years in prison. That term was less than half
the minimum sentence called for under the statutes. The five who were
convicted remain free pending appeals.
The special
tribunal did not indict the former Indonesian military chief,
Wiranto, who was the top commander at the time of the East Timor killings.
United Nations officials estimated that more than 1,000 pro-independence
East Timorese were killed in the rampages organized by military-backed
militia after a United Nations referendum.
The United
States ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph L. Boyce, criticized the
request for a not-guilty verdict in the Damiri case.
"While
reserving judgment until the final verdict is reached, we find it
particularly disappointing that it was the prosecution that sought a
not-guilty verdict in this case," Mr. Boyce said.
The Pentagon
allocated $4 million for counterterrorism training to the
Indonesian Army last year. In addition, Congress approved $400,000 for
Indonesian officers to go to the United States under the prestigious
International Military Education and Training program.
But last
month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the $400,000
should be put on hold until the Indonesian military and government gave
better cooperation to the F.B.I., which is investigating the murders of
two
American teachers in the province of Irian Jaya last year. An inquiry
by
the Indonesian police into the killings concluded that it was highly
probable that the army was involved in their deaths.
President
Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is running for a second term next
year, sees the military as the institution that enforces national unity.
Since President
Megawati came to power in 2001, the military has declined
to dismantle its system of territorial commands that places military
officials in parallel positions with civilians through most layers of
provincial and village government.