Robinson concerned by Indonesia's first verdict on crimes committed
in East
Timor
Mary Robinson
14 August - The top United Nations human rights official today voiced
concern over the first verdict handed down by an Indonesian court dealing
with crimes committed in East Timor and urged Jakarta to take all steps
necessary to ensure that thorough investigations are conducted into alleged
human rights violations committed during the 1999 popular consultation.
On Wednesday, the Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunals in Indonesia found Abilio
Soares, a former Governor of East Timor, guilty of crimes against humanity
and sentenced him to three years in prison, below the statutory minimum
of
10 years.
Reacting to the verdict, Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for
Human
Rights, said she was concerned that the prosecution had not put before
the
court evidence that portrayed the killings and other human rights violations
as part of a widespread or systematic pattern of violence.
"Rather, the indictments present the killings and other abuses as
the result
of spontaneous conflict between armed factions within East Timorese
society," she said in a statement. "This seriously undermines
the strength
of the prosecution's case and jeopardizes the integrity and credibility
of
the process."
That approach also contradicted the conclusions of several international
and
national inquiries into the violence that occurred prior to and in the
aftermath of East Timor's vote on whether to remain a part of Indonesia
or
to take steps towards eventual independence, Mrs. Robinson said.
Those investigations found "patterns of gross violations of human
rights and
breaches of humanitarian law" which took the form of systematic and
widespread intimidation, humiliation and terror, the High Commissioner
said.
Mrs. Robinson also noted that the defendants appearing before the Indonesian
tribunal are all charged with crimes of omission, based on a failure to
take
action to prevent, repress or investigate and punish acts committed by
others. "None of the defendants is accused of personally committing,
commanding, or assisting in the commission of crimes against humanity,"
she
said.
She repeated the UN's previous reservations over the tribunal's limited
jurisdiction, which extends only to crimes committed in three districts
from
April to September 1999, saying that it prevented a full airing of all
crimes committed in the country from January to October of that year.
"The United Nations urges the Indonesian authorities to urgently
take all
possible measures to ensure that they investigate fully the violations
of
human rights and international and humanitarian law perpetrated in East
Timor in the period lead up to and immediately following the popular
consultation held in August 1999 and that the ad hoc human rights tribunals
function in full respect of international human rights standards,"
the
statement said.