The Christian Science Monitor
Monday, April 29, 2002
Reluctant to prosecute
Dutch officials presented a tight case against the killers of a Western
journalist, but Indonesia won't prosecute.
By Dan Murphy | Special to the Christian Science Monitor
JAKARTA, INDONESIA -" They have a motive, a witness to the killing,
and a
mound of supporting evidence. Yet Indonesian prosecutors remain reluctant
to
bring the alleged murderers of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes to trial.
The failure to prosecute is at the center of a growing dispute between
Indonesia and Western governments - particularly the European Union -
over
the credibility of the trials Jakarta is holding for atrocities committed
in
East Timor in 1999.
United Nations and Dutch investigators say Mr. Thoenes, a former Monitor
contributor, was murdered by Indonesian Army Battalion 745. He was one
of 12
civilians killed by the battalion in three days in September 1999, as
it
withdrew in anger from East Timor.
"This is probably the best documented atrocity in East Timor, and
the one
that most clearly demonstrates a pattern of abuse by the Indonesian
military," says a European Union diplomat.
He and other EU officials say they fear it isn't being pursued precisely
because it makes such a good case against senior officers. In recent weeks,
the military has mounted a strong rearguard action against taking any
of the
blame for what happened in East Timor.
An ad hoc tribunal
Indonesia convened an ad hoc human-rights tribunal for 18 soldiers, civilian
administrators, and militia members in Jakarta last month. Western diplomats
say the cases before the court don't draw the lines between command authority
and action that the Thoenes murder - and the overall conduct of the battalion
- does.
The military officers being tried are charged with failure to stop violence,
rather than responsibility for planning or encouraging it. The military
says
those accused of direct acts of violence - militia members and civilian
officials - were beyond its control.
"That's why the case of Sander Thoenes is linked to the credibility
of the
whole tribunal,'' says the European diplomat.
Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, the senior officer responsible for East Timor
at that
time, said this month that "fraud" by the UN in the ballot process
led to
"riots" by outraged supporters of Indonesia. Former armed forces
chief
General Wiranto also blamed UN bias for the violence, saying that the
military struggled to "restore peace."
"It was as if they were saying: 'We're closing ranks, there will
be no
accountability,' '' says another Western diplomat who is closely following
the trials. "We're not asking that everyone be held accountable,''
he says.
"We're asking that anyone be held accountable."
The dispute could loom large as Indonesia seeks to normalize military
relations with Western governments. The Bush administration is currently
pushing for renewed contacts with Indonesia's military, which were cut
off by
Congress after the East Timor rampage.
The administration thinks renewed military ties with Indonesia, the world's
largest Muslim country, might make it a more wholehearted supporter of
the
war on terror. Last week, Peter Brookes, the US deputy assistant secretary
of
Defense for Asian and Pacific affairs, held high-level meetings with the
Indonesian military, the highest-level contact in three years.
But US officials say Congress appears to be digging in over the issue,
and is
unlikely to allow more ties until satisfied that justice has been done
for
the crimes in East Timor.
Indonesian prosecutors say there is no pressure being brought to bear
by the
military over the Thoenes case. Instead, it isn't being prosecuted because
"we have a difference of perceptions'' with the foreign investigators,
says
Barman Zahir, spokesman for the attorney general.
He says Indonesian investigators have found little evidence pointing
to the
battalion and have doubts about the credibility of the UN and Dutch
investigations. Mr. Zahir says his office is leaning toward closing the
case
without a prosecution, though a final decision has not yet been made.
A report by Dutch police investigator Gerardus Thiry, seen by the Monitor
and
confirmed by UN investigators, says Thoenes was shot in the back by Battalion
745 Second Lt. Camilo dos Santos as the reporter lay on his side, after
he
had fallen off a motorbike and been dragged a short distance from the
road.
Mr. Thiry cites an eyewitness to the murder, Domingus Amaral, who observed
the killing from behind a tree and picked out Lieutenant dos Santos from
a
line-up of photographs of Indonesian soldiers. Dos Santos told The Associated
Press in early April that he had nothing to do with the Thoenes killing.
Thiry's report describes a premeditated plan by the battalion, formed
by dos
Santos and his commanding officer, Maj. Yacob Sarosa, to kill civilians
and
destroy livestock and homes.
The Dutch report
Later, the report describes the involvement of Brig. Gen. Noer Muis,
who was
the senior commander for the military in East Timor, in a cover-up. According
to a former member of the battalion, General Muis briefed soldiers at
the end
of Sept. 21 to "keep silent about today for the rest of your lives."
Indonesia has been given Thiry's report, as well as funding from the
Dutch
government to duplicate his work, and an Indonesian team traveled to East
Timor in March to interview witnesses.
But Zahir says Indonesian investigators found a number of reasons to
doubt
Mr. Amaral's credibility. Among them: his reluctance to disclose his precise
home address, and his desire to be interviewed in his native language,
Tetum,
rather than in Indonesian.
Officials dispute eye witness account
Zahir also says that Amaral was too far away to see clearly what he claims
to
have seen, and that Thoenes may have died from a knife wound, rather than
a
gun shot. Australian coroner Gregory Cavanagh, who conducted the autopsy
on
Thoenes, says he died from a high-velocity bullet.
"I would say that [Amaral] is a very credible witness,'' says Jim
Bell, the
lead investigator on the case for the UN's mission in East Timor. Bell
says
the details of Thoenes' death - the type of gun, and the angle of the
bullet
- were carefully kept from the public, yet Amaral was able to reconstruct
Thoenes' final moments perfectly.
"There was no way he could have known this if he hadn't witnessed
the
killing," Mr. Bell says.
Thoenes murder: Witness identifies Indonesian officer
DILI, EAST TIMOR - Second Lt. Camilo dos Santos, a handsome officer who
wore
his beret at a rakish tilt, was the Battalion 745 commander's right-hand
man.
That Indonesian battalion went on a three-day killing spree after East
Timor
overwhelmingly chose independence in its 1999 referendum. The unit drove
to
the border of Indonesian West Timor in late September, allegedly killing
12
people along the way, including Sander Thoenes, a Financial Times reporter
and a regular Monitor contributor.
Lieutenant dos Santos was the name Jim Bell heard almost from the moment
he
arrived in East Timor. An Australian cop, Mr. Bell came in October 1999
to
conduct a United Nations investigation of the murder of Mr. Thoenes.
Former members of the battalion told Bell about the lieutenant's ruthless
reputation. They said he'd led a loyalty ceremony for members of the
battalion that involved drinking local palm wine, mixed with the blood
of a
dog and a few drops of the blood of Commander Major Yacob Sarosa and dos
Santos. Second Sgt. Hermenegildo dos Santos (no relation to Camilo dos
Santos) told Bell, and the Monitor in 1999, that the lieutenant had briefed
the unit before they left on Sept. 20, 1999. "If you find anything,"
he told
them, "just shoot it."
As the convoy of roughly 100 soldiers rolled south on Sept. 21, dos Santos
led by example. He rode up front with the two-man motorcycle teams that
shot
at almost everything that moved.
At about five that afternoon, Domingos Amaral says he was relaxing by
the
side of the road in Dili's Becora neighborhood. The seller of grilled
meat
recalls being glad the worst of the day's heat was over. Then he heard
the
whine of motors up the road and bursts of automatic gunfire. He dove into
the
brush and peered out from behind a tree. After a few moments, a group
of
soldiers from the battalion - he could make out the 745 insignia on their
sleeves - came into view about 30 yards away, dragging the limp body of
a
white man who was later identified as Thoenes.
They laid him on his side, and then one of them "with an emotional,
angry
look on his face" fired his rifle into the back of Thoenes. Mr. Amaral
held
his breath. "If they had heard, they would have surely killed me,''
he says.
Another farmer, Alexandre Estevao, told the Monitor in January 2000 that
he
also saw a body dragged off the road, but he was too far away to identify
it
or the soldiers.
UN investigators had known that Amaral was a witness for some time, but
Indonesia had refused to provide pictures of dos Santos or other members
of
the battalion, so they hadn't been able to positively identify who Amaral
had
seen.
But one day late last year, Bell was sitting in his office watching a
local
news broadcast about refugees returning from the West Timor camps, and
a
soldier's name-tag caught his eye: C. dos Santos. He quickly had still
pictures made from the videotape and presented them, along with pictures
of
other Indonesian soldiers, to Amaral, who immediately pointed to the
lieutenant's photo. "I remember the face very clear,'' says Amaral.
Dos Santos told The Associated Press in early April that he had nothing
to do
with the Thoenes killing. The Monitor has made several unanswered requests
to
his commanding officers for interviews over the past two weeks.
Dos Santos now serves in West Timor's Battalion 743, where he's been
involved
in the process of screening East Timorese refugees who would like to return
home. In early April, East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao visited one
of the
border camps to reassure refugees that it was now safe to return. He met
dos
Santos and as they spoke, the lieutenant broke down into tears. Mr. Gusmao
gave him a hug, urged him to come home, and "face up to whatever
he had done."
----------------------------------------
Journalists on the job: The story behind the story
WITNESS CREDIBILITY: Reporter Dan Murphy says the key issue at stake
in the
dispute between UN investigators and Indonesia over the murder of former
Monitor contributor Sander Thoenes is the credibility of an eyewitness
to the
murder, Domingus Amaral. Indonesian investigators say the illiterate Amaral
isn't a credible witness (see story). Dan found the street vendor at home
in
a half-destroyed Dili building. He was not only clear and specific about
what
he saw, but aware of what was at stake. "We only spoke for a few
minutes,
because he wanted to keep his comments to me as straightforward and simple
as
possible. He said he wanted to save most of what he has to say for the
judge."