Don't Trade Justice for Peace, Prosecutor Pleads
By Jill Jolliffe in Dili
September 17, 2003
East Timor's
chief prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro, has warned that the
country could face internal problems if it drops cases against Indonesian
human rights violators to further relations with Jakarta.
Speaking
after Interpol issued 23 new arrest warrants for Indonesian and
Timorese suspects, Mr Monteiro said: "I have always argued that .
. . if we
close the doors of the Serious Crimes Unit we will have problems."
The SCU
was set up by the United Nations to prosecute Indonesians and
Timorese responsible for the violence that accompanied East Timor's
independence referendum in 1999, leaving more than 1000 dead and destroying
much of the country's infrastructure.
Arguing
that East Timor has a moral obligation to victims and the world,
the Prosecutor-General underlined the growing contradiction between Dili's
need for good relations with Jakarta and the need to judge those accused
of
atrocities.
He said he would drop prosecutions if East Timor's foreign policy demanded it.
"Until
then, I'll continue the accusations," he added, saying he felt the
Government was not giving him sufficient moral support.
He said
the UN had indicated it would continue backing the SCU, which has
been under Timorese control since independence, but only if the Government
agreed.
The Justice
Minister, Domingos Sarmento, said the prosecutor had the
Government's full backing, and "if war crimes have been committed
the UN
must establish an international court".
Among those
named in the latest Interpol warrants is Colonel Burhanuddin
Siagian, a former commander of Bobonaro district, who has since risen
to be
the third-ranking officer in the Bali-based command of the eastern
Indonesian region. He is accused of crimes against humanity during two
massacres in Bobonaro.
The Timorese
prosecutor sought Interpol's intervention after Indonesia
refused to hand over suspects for trial before a special Dili court which
has already sentenced more than 30 East Timorese to terms of up to 33
years.
Although
authorities are powerless to extradite suspects from Indonesia,
those on the Interpol list may be arrested if they travel outside Indonesia.
Jose Andrad,
a Timorese MP who was tortured by Colonel Siagian, said he was
happy the colonel was on Interpol's wanted list.
He said
he understood the contradiction between East Timorese foreign
policy and the prosecutions. "We need to become good neighbours with
Indonesia, but not at the expense of justice," he said.