East Timor trial in three months<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said on
\nWednesday that trials of those accused of involvement in the
\ncampaign of terror and destruction in East Timor last year would
\nstart in three months.<\/p>\n
\"We have given a general picture that within three months the
\ntrials could have started,\" Marzuki said after a 30-minute
\nmeeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the
\nAttorney General's Office.<\/p>\n
\"Within three to four weeks, there will be a number of people
\nwho will be named as suspects.\"<\/p>\n
The government-sanctioned inquiry on East Timor has
\nrecommended the Attorney General's Office launch an investigation
\ninto former Indonesian Military chief Gen. Wiranto and 32
\nmilitary and civilian officials for alleged involvement in the
\nviolence following a self-determination ballot in the territory.<\/p>\n
Marzuki also said Annan assured him the UN \"will fully
\nsupport\" the Indonesian government's effort to acquire data on
\natrocities in East Timor which were gathered by the International
\nCommission of Inquiry on East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"Kofi Annan has assured us that the Attorney General's Office
\nwill be given full access to obtain data and evidence that have
\nbeen collected by the inquiry,\" Marzuki said, referring to the UN
\nteam led by Costa Rican jurist Sonia Picado.<\/p>\n
Jakarta has rejected the possibility of an international
\ntribunal on the devastation, arguing that it can investigate and
\nbring to justice those responsible.<\/p>\n
While Marzuki's statement of an impending trial raises hopes
\nthat justice may be forthcoming in the East Timor saga, it also
\ntook many by surprise as the Attorney General's Office only
\nofficially received the inquiry's report on Jan. 31.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office began to form a special team to
\nexamine the findings on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Attorney General's Office spokesman Soehandoyo admitted on
\nTuesday \"it will likely take a long time to examine the 4,000
\ndocuments submitted\".<\/p>\n
Many also were taken aback that Marzuki assured a trial would
\ntake place even though no suspects have been named.<\/p>\n
Friends<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman Wahid assured the visiting UN chief
\nearlier on Wednesday of his commitment to prosecute those
\nresponsible.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists after meeting with Annan at Merdeka
\nPalace, the President said he told Annan that the Indonesian
\ngovernment would work in the right manner in handling accused
\nhuman rights violators.<\/p>\n
\"We will prosecute those involved. And then later the verdict
\nwill tell us what to do,\" the President said.<\/p>\n
During his meeting with Annan, the President was accompanied
\nby Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Minister of Foreign
\nAffairs Alwi Shihab.<\/p>\n
Asked whether he had issued a written guarantee to the
\nsecretary-general, Abdurrahman replied: \"Between friends there is
\nno need for such assurances.\"<\/p>\n
Annan, who arrived on Tuesday for a three-day visit, praised
\nthe President's convictions.<\/p>\n
\"It is important that those who were responsible for the
\natrocities be brought to justice in order to send a message out
\nthat impunity will not be allowed to stand, and it will also be a
\ndeterrent to those who will be minded to attempt that in the
\nfuture,\" Annan told reporters.<\/p>\n
He said the UN Security Council would not set up an
\ninternational tribunal if Indonesia could prove its ability to
\npunish those responsible<\/p>\n
\"Of course, if that doesn't happen, the council has a right to
\nrevert to it.\"<\/p>\n
The President suspended Coordinating Minister for Political
\nAffairs and Security Gen. Wiranto late on Sunday.<\/p>\n
After a morning meeting with Minister of Defense Juwono
\nSudarsono, Annan dismissed speculation that international
\npressure led Abdurrahman to reverse his initial decision not to
\nsuspend Wiranto from his Cabinet post.<\/p>\n
\"I think it's the prerogative right of the President and I
\ndon't believe he needed any international pressure to make the
\njudgment,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"As a political leader who is in charge of this country, he
\n(Abdurrahman) exercised his prerogative rights.\"<\/p>\n
Annan also met with members of the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights. Discussions included the possibility of UN
\nassistance in training Indonesian prosecutors in human rights
\ntrials.<\/p>\n
Annan will continue to Dili for a two-day stay in East Timor's
\ncapital.<\/p>\n
A plan for Annan to travel across the border to the Indonesian
\nhalf of Timor island to visit the town of Atambua, where some
\n150,000 refugees remain, has been canceled.<\/p>\n
Officials said the trip would have consumed too much time in
\nAnnan's brief visit to the territory.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Wiranto kept up a public relations campaign of
\ntelling his side of the story.<\/p>\n
After a surprise radio interview on Tuesday, he was given a
\nprime-time slot on private television station RCTI.<\/p>\n
Appearing composed, Wiranto casually detailed the events
\nleading up to the violence in East Timor and the specific efforts
\nhe took to avert the violence.<\/p>\n
As well showing prepared diagrams, RCTI aired a lengthy speech
\nWiranto made to East Timorese leaders in Dili shortly before the
\nballot in which he pleaded for peace.<\/p>\n
He repeatedly said there was no premeditation by TNI as an
\ninstitution to cause havoc in East Timor.(01\/emf\/prb\/byg)<\/p>",
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