BBC World News, Tuesday, 28 January, 2003, 19:21 GMT
Moluccan Christian leaders sentenced
Two Christian leaders have been sentenced to three years in jail by an Indonesian
court for subversion in the country's restive Moluccan islands.
Alex Manuputty, 55, and Samuel Waileruny, 45, were on trial in absentia in
Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, for campaigning for an independent state in the
Moluccans.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in sectarian fighting in the Moluccans since
January 1999.
Muslims and Christians signed a peace deal last February but sporadic violence still
occurs.
A Muslim leader in the province, Ja'afar Umar Thalib, is due to be sentenced by
another Jakarta court on Thursday for inciting violence on the islands.
Appeal
Lawyers for Manuputty and Waileruny said their clients would appeal the sentence,
protesting that the trial should have been postponed because the two men were not
present.
Manuputty and Waileruny were released from detention in December and have
returned home to Ambon, the Moluccan capital.
They were arrested last April after encouraging their followers to hoist banned
separatist flags.
Manuputty leads the Maluku Sovereignty Front, which campaigns for a referendum on
self-determination.
The group is thought to have about 100 followers.
It was not clear whether the two defendants would remain free pending their appeal.
Manuputty told Associated Press news agency that he would not give himself up to
the authorities.
"I will resist the verdict in a non-violent way," he said.
The trial has been seen as an attempt by Jakarta to hold Muslims and Christians
equally to account for the violence in the province.
Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, but in the Moluccans Christians account for about
50% of the population.
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