ASIA-PACIFIC
COALITION FOR EAST TIMOR (APCET)
12 November 2002
Justice for Timor Includes Trials for The Masterminds
The Asia-Pacific
Coalition for East Timor marks this day, November 12--as
always-- with memories for the more than 300 East Timorese who lost their
lives on this day in a brutal massacre at the Santa Cruz cemetery by
Indonesian troops. We remember even as we continue to call for justice
to be given to the
victims and their families.
We note
some of the positive developments in the justice side in East Timor
and Indonesia We are heartened by the first indictment to be issued by
the
UN Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor against Indonesian soldiers for their
conduct in 1999. The indictments against Major Jacob Sarosa and Lieutenant.
Camilo dos Santos for the killing of a Dutch journalist and 19 others
in
1999 are worthy of note because they all involve crimes against humanity.
All of the counts in the indictment concern crimes committed directly
by
members of the Indonesian battalion commanded by Maj. Sarosa and Lt. Dos
Santos and detail the conduct of Indonesian soldiers independent of their
involvement with militia groups in East Timor.
We also
monitor the ongoing trial of militia leader Eurico Guterres before
the Ad Hoc Human rights Court in Jakarta. Guterres is the first militia
leader to stand trial in the Jakarta court and could face the death penalty
if convicted. We watch the developments in Jakarta-- but not forgetting
the
appalling verdicts rendered by the court in mid-August when it sentenced
former East Timor governor Abilio Soares to only three years in prison
and
acquitted former East Timor police chief Timbul Silaen and five fellow
Indonesian officers -- Army Colonel Herman Sedyono, Colonel Liliek
Kushadianto, Major Achmad Syamsudin, Sugito and former Suai police chief
Gatot Subiyaktoro -- for 1999 crimes.
We note
that the indictments and trials are for the crimes committed in
1999. But what about the Sta. Cruz massacre which occurred eleven years
ago
today? Or the killings which commenced in 1975 and continued far beyond?
The Sta.
Cruz massacre remains in the minds of the world because it was
vividly captured on video and eventually galvanized international
condemnation of Indonesia's brutal occupation of this tiny nation.
We use this
occasion therefore to recall the direct involvement and
complicity of leaders in the powerful nations in making possible the 1975
invasion and the crimes against humanity which occurred in East Timor.
We continue
to hold that Ford and Kissinger of the United States, Whitlam
and Woolcott of Australia and the various governments which gave arms
and
military training and diplomatic cover to Indonesia are just as responsible
for the crimes in East Timor as Generals Suharto, Murdani, Wiranto and
the
other Indonesian army officers.
We heed
the plea of the East Timorese President for this day not to be
commemorated only with tears but with new sweat, and for East Timorese
to
hold on to the memories of those killed today but to put all efforts in
moving forward.
But as members
of this human community who were outraged by the crimes
against humanity in East Timor and desire to end impunity for the
Indonesian generals and their accomplices, we continue to ask for justice
for the East Timorese.
Because
we recognize that the ongoing justice processes in East Timor and
Indonesia are
limited by mandate and political will, we therefore again ask the United
Nations to convene an international tribunal for East Timor, in accordance
with what its own International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor
(ICI-ET) had recommended nearly three years ago.
Establish
the international tribunal now! Prosecute the masterminds and
conspirators in the crimes in East Timor! Justice for East Timor!