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Los Palos trial enters second stage

JSMP, Dili 30/7 01

The trial against the ten accused in the Los Palos case is now entering its second stage. After hearing statements, and questioning the accused for three whole weeks, the first witnesses will testify in court on Tuesday. It is expected that the public prosecutor will call approximately 30 witnesses, while the defence so far has not indicated that they will call any.

The ten are all indicted for seven charges of crimes against humanity, including the murder of five clergy in Lautem on 25 September 1999. One of the alleged commanders of the Team Alpha militia group, Joni Marques, has pleaded guilty to this charge but has otherwise refused to make any statements regarding the murders on 25 September. His plea of guilty is still being considered by the court and it is not yet clear whether it will be accepted.

Several of the other accused have denied any affiliation with the Team Alpha militia, claiming they were ordered to assist and threatened with serious harm if they did not participate in the crimes.

During the cross examination, the militia members have testified to their strong links with KOPASSUS, the Indonesian special forces, ever since Team Alpha was established in the mid 1980s. One of the accused also confirmed that he had been paid 75 000 rupiah per month for being a militia member. The same accused confirmed that the militia had been informed by KOPASSUS of the "Operation Cleansing", the first step in which was to kill everyone who voted for independence, the second step to destroy all buildings in East Timor made by Indonesians.

The trial is expected to continue for several more weeks.

-----Judicial System Monitoring Programme -----