East Timorese get death for ambush<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A district court sentenced to death two East
\nTimorese separatist rebels Thursday for their involvement in a
\nMay 30 ambush which killed 17 security personnel in Baucau
\nregency, East Timor.<\/p>\n
Antara reported that Luis Maria da Silva, 57, and Fransisco da
\nCosta, 36, were found guilty by the Baucau district court of
\nviolating Article 55 of the Criminal Code relating to armed
\nassault against government authorities.<\/p>\n
Presiding Judge Hanceh Tothmaran said both defendants had
\ncommitted subversion with their grenade attack on the truck
\ncarrying security personnel in Nuamana village.<\/p>\n
The security personnel were returning from guarding polling
\nstations in Quelicai subdistrict, southeast of Baucau, following
\nnational elections.<\/p>\n
Seventeen policemen were killed during the ambush, while 10
\nothers were injured.<\/p>\n
The ambush was one of a series of bloody attacks on police and
\ncivilians by separatist rebels throughout East Timor around the
\ntime of the country's May 29 general elections.<\/p>\n
The judge said that during the trial the defendants had shown
\nno remorse and that one of them, Luis Maria da Silva, had once
\nbeen imprisoned for seven years for killing two policemen in
\nBaucau in 1985.<\/p>\n
\"In this case, we (the panel of judges) have seen no single
\nfactor that allows us to hand down a more lenient sentence,\"
\nHanceh said in his ruling.<\/p>\n
\"On the contrary, their crime had stirred unrest among the
\nIndonesian people, especially the East Timorese,\" he was quoted
\nas saying by Antara.<\/p>\n
Both defendants were also found guilty of illegal possession
\nof firearms.<\/p>\n
The defendants have decided to appeal. One of their lawyers
\nfrom the Dili Legal Aid Institute, Nursalim Palilin, argued that
\nthe death sentence was not in accordance with the state
\nphilosophy of Pancasila.<\/p>\n
The death penalty in Indonesia is carried out by firing squad.<\/p>\n
Rights<\/p>\n
It was also reported Thursday that the Dili diocese-affiliated
\nCommission of Justice and Peace, and the Foundation of Law, Human
\nRights and Justice in Dili had stated that they had received as
\nmany as 451 public complaints since January this year.<\/p>\n
The foundation's chairman, Aniceto Guterres Lopes, and the
\ncommission's chairman, Amandio de Araujo, revealed that 339 of
\nthe cases were linked to violence and violations of human rights.<\/p>\n
The complaints received by the foundation, 80 percent of which
\nwere deemed to be true, were handled by its members, while those
\nreceived by the commission were passed on to related government
\nauthorities. (aan\/33)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-timorese-get-death-for-ambush-1447893297",
"image": ""
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