VOA News, 25 Feb 2003, 10:06 UTC
UN Indicts 8 Indonesians Charged with Crimes Against Humanity
Patricia Nunan Jakarta
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The United Nations has indicted eight current and former Indonesian officials on
charges of crimes against humanity during the run-up to the independence of East
Timor. Indonesian officials promptly said they would ignore the indictments. Human
rights groups have consistently claimed that the violence that devastated East Timor,
before and after its 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia, was orchestrated by
Indonesian military officials. Today's indictments, announced by the United Nations in
the East Timor capital Dili, support those claims.
Stuart Alford is a prosecutor in Dili with the U.N. serious crimes unit. Mr. Alford says
the unit's two-year investigation proved that the devastation took place with the
support and participation of senior officials of the Indonesian military - also known by
the initials TNI. "It was a TNI-supported and directed operation," says Mr. Alford. "And
senior TNI officers were responsible personally, individually in the establishment of
militia groups, in the funding, training, arming and directing those militia groups for the
participation of crimes." Mr. Alford says prosecutors will petition Indonesia's
government to issue arrest warrants for the accused. But Indonesian Foreign Minister
Hassan Wirayuda, speaking at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Malaysia
several hours after the indictments were announced, said his government would
"simply ignore" them. Mr. Wirayuda questioned the United Nations' authority to return
indictments against Indonesians.
Seven senior military officers and an ex-governor were charged with crimes against
humanity, for participating in the establishment of the militia groups that opposed
independence, and for acts the militias committed while under military command. The
announcement said murder, deportation and persecution were part of a "widespread
and systematic" attack against East Timorese who supported independence.
The names listed on the indictment read like a Who's Who of Indonesia's military
brass: Former Defense Minister and Armed Forces chief General Wiranto; the officer
who oversaw martial law in East Timor, Major General Kiki Syahnakri, and the special
teams commander, Major General Zacky Anwar Makarim.
Also indicted were four regional military commanders, Major General Adam Damiri
and Colonels Tono Suratman, Noer Muis and Sudrajat. The one civilian on the list is
East Timor's former Jakarta-appointed governor, Abilio Soares.
Hundreds of people were killed in East Timor in 1999, before and after the
independence referendum supervised by the United Nations. A quarter-million more
were forced out or fled to refugee camps in the Indonesian province of West Timor.
Much of the violence was committed by the militias.
Despite the bloodshed, the vote for independence was overwhelming. After two years
under U.N. administration, East Timor became the world's newest nation last May.
Indonesia has set up its own tribunal to consider war crimes allegedly committed in
East Timor, but the tribunal has been criticized for failing to take strong action. One of
the few individuals convicted is former Governor Soares. He was sentenced to three
years out of a possible ten for crimes against humanity, a sentence that critics
charge is too lenient for such a crime. He is currently free on appeal.
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