SERIOUS CRIMES UNIT: INFORMATION RELEASE
3 NEW INDICTMENTS CHARGE SAKUNAR MILITIA DEPUTY COMMANDER, 3 EAST TIMORESE
TNI SOLDIERS
AND 13 SAKUNAR MILITIA MEMBERS WITH CRIMES IN OECUSSI DISTRICT IN 1999
The Acting
Deputy General Prosecutor for Serious Crimes filed 3 indictments
with the Special Panel for Serious Crimes at Dili District Court in Timor
Leste on 30 September 2003.
The 3 indictments
charge a total of 17 persons including the former deputy
Commander of Sakunar militia -Laurentino Soares alias "Moko",
3 East
Timorese soldiers in the Indonesian military (TNI) and 13 former Sakunar
militia members with crimes committed in Oecussi district between September
and October 1999.
The Moko
indictment charges 10 individuals with Crimes against Humanity:
murder, attempted murder, inhumane acts and persecution for abduction.
It
is alleged that between September 1999 until the arrival of INTERFET forces
in October 1999, TNI soldiers and Sakunar militia under the control of
Soares alias "Moko" systematically attacked the civilians of
Oecussi
destroying villages, forcing people to West Timor and specifically
targeting and killing pro-independence supporters.
In the Moko
indictment, the former Sakunar militia deputy commander
Laurentino Soares alias "Moko" is charged with Crimes against
Humanity
(murder) for the killing of Maria Au on 22 September 1999 and the murders
of Joao Eco, Facuno Bano and Leo Bano on 27 September 1999 in Pante
Macassar subdistrict. Soares alias "Moko" is also charged with
the killing
of UNAMET employee Domingos Vaz who was allegedly captured and shot by
Sakunar militia at Kolam beach on 13 October 1999.
Soares alias
"Moko" is further charged along with 9 East Timorese and
Indonesian Sakunar militia members with Crimes against Humanity including
the killing of Oscar da Costa during a TNI-militia attack on Cutet village
on 23 September 1999 and the murder of three men captured by Sakunar
militia in Lifau Pante Macassar subdistrict on 14 October 1999.
The Amoroso
Bobo indictment charges 4 former Sakunar militia members with
murder for the killing of pro-independence activist Amoroso Bobo in Padiae
village on 13 September 1999. It is alleged that Bobo had arrived at the
house of the Deputy Commander of Sakunar militia Laurentino Soares alias
"Moko" carrying a machete and shouting for "Moko".
The victim was chased
from the house and allegedly stabbed to death by Sakunar militia members.
The Numbei
indictment charges 3 East Timorese TNI soldiers with two counts
of Crimes against Humanity for the killings of pro-independence chief
of
Pune village -Paulo Sequeira and independence supporter Stanislau Bala
in a
TNI-Sakunar militia attack on a house in Numbei town on 11 September 1999.
The indictment alleges that after Sequeira was shot at and beaten by TNI
soldier Jorge Ulan that TNI soldier Joao Gomez and Sakunar militia members
stabbed Sequira to death. It is alleged that Bala was stabbed to death
by
TNI soldier Blaus Manek and that two other men were seriously assaulted
in
the attack. It is further alleged that TNI soldiers and Sakunar militia
deliberately set the house on fire with the two dead victims inside. Two
other men who had been beaten unconscious and left for dead inside the
house survived the fire.
All of the
accused persons in the 3 Oecussi indictments are believed to be
at large in the Republic of Indonesia. Arrest Warrants will be forwarded
to
the Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia and sent to the Interpol
organisation.
Laurentino Soares alias "Moko" has been previously indicted
by the Serious
Crimes Unit on 27 September 2001 and on 9 December 2002 in relation to
the
Passabe massacre in September 1999 and Makelab killings in October 1999.
It
is believed that Laurentino Soares is living in West Timor, Indonesia.
The Serious Crimes Unit has now filed 78 indictments at the Special Panels
for Serious Crimes charging a total of 350 persons. Of those indicted,
263
accused remain at large in the Republic of Indonesia. Until now, 35 accused
have been convicted in trials at the Special Panel for Serious Crimes
in
Timor Leste.
30 September 2003