BBC World News, Tuesday, 25 February, 2003, 10:17 GMT
Jakarta's ex-army chief indicted
Indonesia has already refused to hand General Wiranto over
The United Nations has charged Indonesia's former military chief General Wiranto with
crimes against humanity, over his role in the bloody violence surrounding East Timor's
1999 vote for independence.
Six other senior military officers and the former Indonesian Governor of East Timor,
Abilio Soares, were also named in the indictment.
The accused men face counts of murder, deportation and persecution of
pro-independence supporters, the UN said in a statement.
However, it seems doubtful that Indonesia will hand over the accused men to the UN
in East Timor.
Jakarta has so far refused to honour UN arrest warrants, and on Tuesday said it would
"simply ignore" the latest request.
Around 1,000 people - mostly pro-independence supporters - died during the violence
sparked by East Timor's overwhelming vote for independence from Indonesia in
August 1999.
Murder allegations
The prosecutor for the Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor, Stewart Alford, said the
indictment was based on more than 1,500 witness statements.
It documents more than 280 murders and also details the deportation or forcible
transfer of about 200,000 people to Indonesian West Timor.
Mr Alford told the BBC that these were the most significant indictments the unit had
issued, and it had now reached the limit of what it could do within East Timor.
But Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda hit back at the indictments soon
after they were issued.
"Who gave (the UN) the mandate to indict Indonesians, under what basis, what
authority?" he told the Associated Press news agency in Kuala Lumpur, where he is
attending a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Indonesia has set up its own human rights court. But despite international criticism,
General Wiranto and other top officers were not among those charged.
General Wiranto has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and has even been
mentioned as a possible Indonesian presidential candidate in 2004.
But his luck may be running out, says the BBC correspondent in Jakarta Rachel
Harvey.
Arrest warrants for the eight accused are being forwarded to the Attorney-General's
office in Indonesia and to Interpol.
The warrants could be served if any of those indicted try to leave the country.
Nearly 150 people have so far been charged by the UN over violence in East Timor.
Indonesian forces invaded in 1975 and annexed the former Portuguese colony the
following year.
The UN ran the half-island territory after the 1999 violence, and East Timor became an
independent nation in May last year, although the UN still has a mission there.
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