SERIOUS CRIMES UNIT INFORMATION RELEASE
23 October 2003
SCU: INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION
Special
Panel Sentences two Former Liquica Militia Members for Crimes Against
Humanity
At 15.00
on 23 October 2003, Judges at the Special Panels for Serious
Crimes convicted Anastacio Martins and Domingos Goncalves of Crimes against
Humanity. The two former members of the Besi Merah Putih militia group
in
Liquica district were sentenced to 11 years 6 months and 15 years
imprisonment for crimes committed in Liquica district in Timor Leste in
September 1999.
Anastacio
Martins from Bazartete subdistrict in Liquica district was
convicted of one count of murder as a Crime against Humanity. During the
trial, Martins had pleaded guilty to one count of murder as a Crime against
Humanity for the murder of three independence supporters in Bazartete
sub-district on 4 September 1999. Taking into account his guilty plea,
the
Special Panel judges sentenced Martins to 11 years 6 months imprisonment.
The Judges
at the Special Panel found Domingos Goncalves guilty of two
counts of Crimes against Humanity: for the murder of three independence
supporters in Bazartete sub-district on 4 September 1999 and the forced
deportation of villagers from Bazartete sub-district to West Timor in
planned operations conducted by TNI soldiers and BMP militia members during
September 1999. The three-Judge Special Panel sentenced Goncalves to 15
years imprisonment.
The SCU
International Prosecutor in the trial, Mr. Per Halsbog comments
that the conviction of the former militia members demonstrate to
communities in Timor Leste and the International community that individuals
are being brought to justice in trials conducted by International and
National Judges in the courts of Timor Leste.
Since trials
began at the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in Timor Leste
in 2001, 38 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.
The two
Special Panels for Serious Crimes in Timor Leste are comprised of 2
International Judges and one East Timorese Judge respectively. The Special
Panels of Judges hear cases of Crimes against Humanity and serious crimes
committed in 1999 in Timor Leste .
At present,
9 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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