SERIOUS CRIMES UNIT INFORMATION RELEASE
13 October 2003
SCU: INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION
Last Defendant in the "Same" Trial Receives
10 ½ Years Sentence For Crimes Against Humanity
At 10.00
on 13 October 2003, Judges at the Special Panels for Serious
Crimes found Domingos Mendonca guilty of Crimes Against Humanity including
murder and persecution in the last verdict of the "Same" trial.
The former
member of the Tim Sasurat Ablai militia group in Same subdistrict was
sentenced to 10 years and 6 months imprisonment for crimes committed in
Same sub-district in Manufahi district of East Timor between April and
September 1999.
Mendonca
was convicted of one count of murder as a Crime Against Humanity
for the killing of Luis Boco Siri and Agapito de Araujo in a coordinated
militia attack on Orlui village on 17 April 1999. The former Ablai
militiaman was also convicted of one count of persecution as a Crime
Against Humanity for the persecution of independence supporters from
various villages in Same sub-district between April and September 1999.
The conviction
of Domingos Mendoca by the Judges of the Special Panels for
Serious Crimes concludes the "Same" trial which began on 4 July
2003. In
the course of the "Same" trial, all of the four defendants present
in East
Timor have been convicted of Crimes against Humanity including murder
and
deportation. On 16 July 2003, former Tim Sasurat Ablai militia vice
commanders Benjamin Sarmento and Romeiro Tilman received sentences of
12
and 8 years imprisonment respectively following pleas of guilt. On 12
August 2003, the third defendant Joao Sarmento was sentenced to 8 years
and
8 months imprisonment again following a guilty plea.
SCU International Prosecutors believe that the former commander of Tim
Sasurat Ablai militia in Same subdistrict, Bernadino da Costa (alias Mata
Satu) is currently living in West Timor in Indonesia. Bernadino da Costa
was charged with Crimes against Humanity including murder, persecution
and
deportation on 7 August 2001.
SCU Prosecutor
in the "Same" trial, Ms. Shyamala Alagendra, comments that
the convictions in the "Same" trial will help victims and families
of
victims as well as the communities concerned come to terms with their
losses in the knowledge that some of those directly responsible for crimes
at the local level have been convicted. Ms. Alagendra added that the
ongoing prosecutions were an important demonstration that a number of
those
accused of Crimes against Humanity and serious crimes committed in East
Timor in 1999 are being brought to justice in trials conducted by
International and East Timorese judges in the courts of East Timor.
Since trials began at the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in Timor Leste
in 2001, 36 accused persons have been convicted including former East
Timorese soldiers in the Indonesian military, East Timorese militia
commanders as well as an East Timorese Falintil resistance fighter.
At present,
10 trials are currently proceeding at the Special Panels for
Serious Crimes with another 8 trials of accused persons present in Timor
Leste scheduled to commence in the coming months.
Since 2000,
the Serious Crimes Unit has indicted a total of 367 persons
with 280 of those accused presently outside the jurisdiction of Timor
Leste.
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INFORMATION ABOUT SCU CONTACT scu@un.org