AsiaNews.it, 28 July, 2004
INDONESIA
Treason trial opens in Indonesia's restive Maluku
Ambon (AsiaNews/AFP) - A court in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon has begun
the trial of 17 people charged with treason linked to a week of bloody communal
unrest in April, a report said on Wednesday.
Prosecutors at the tightly-guarded court accused the group of plotting against the
state with the aim of secession, the Jakarta Post newspaper said.
The defendants were accused of taking part in a separatist rally in Ambon on April 25.
Authorities say the rally caused an outbreak of Muslim-Christian violence in which 38
people were killed.
Violence broke out after a procession by mainly Christian separatist supporters who
were demanding the release of colleagues arrested following a separatist flag-raising
ceremony earlier that day.
Hundreds of homes and other buildings were torched in subsequent days.
The 17 are accused of promoting separatism by supporting the separatist South
Maluku Republic since 2001, the daily said.
Mostly Christian residents proclaimed the republic in 1950, a year after the Dutch
formally granted Indonesia independence. It was quickly suppressed.
The Jakarta Post quoted a defence lawyer as saying the defendants will not present
defence pleas and would accept the charges. The court resumes next Tuesday.
Ambon and some other parts of the Maluku islands were ravaged by three years of
Muslim-Christian clashes which claimed more than 5,000 lives before a February 2002
peace pact took effect.
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