Trial Of Alleged Killer Of NZ Peacekeeper To Continue
JAKARTA (AP)--An Indonesian judge Tuesday dismissed defense appeals and
ruled
that the trial of an Indonesian militiaman accused of killing a New Zealand
peacekeeper in East Timor should continue.
Judge I Ningah Suriada overruled lawyers for defendant Yacobus Bere who
had
argued that an Indonesian court had no jurisdiction over the case.
Bere is accused of murdering Pvt. Leonard William Manning last year in
an
attack close to the border with the Indonesian province of West Timor.
Prosecutors are preparing to indict three additional suspects.
Manning was serving with a U.N. force dispatched to East Timor to restore
order after militiamen ravaged the territory when it voted for independence
from Indonesian rule in September 1999.
Bere, along with other pro-Indonesian militiamen, fled to West Timor
when
peacekeepers arrived.
If Bere is convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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