Ex-governor Abilio Soares escapes jail for now<\/p>\n
Yemris Fointuna and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta\/Kupang<\/p>\n
Convicted former East Timor governor Abilio Soares defied a
\nsummons on Friday to begin serving his three-year jail term for
\nhuman rights crimes in Indonesia's former province in 1999.<\/p>\n
Speaking at his home in the East Nusa Tenggara capital of
\nKupang, Abilio said he could not be sent to prison immediately as
\nhe was seeking a Supreme Court review of his conviction.<\/p>\n
\"How was an order to make me start serving my sentence issued
\nwhile my application for a a review has not yet been responded
\nto?\" he told journalists.<\/p>\n
The ex-governor should have been flown by prosecutors to
\nJakarta from Kupang on Friday to start serving his jail term in
\nCipinang prison.<\/p>\n
\"I have decided to stay in Kupang as I'm a resident of East
\nNusa Tenggara. I have no intention to evade the execution. I have
\nleft all the legal aspects up to my lawyers, but I will never go
\nto jail because of military wrongdoings in East Timor,\" he
\nasserted.<\/p>\n
Abilio blasted his trial as unfair, saying he was made a
\nscapegoat to save others from punishment by the ad hoc human
\nrights court.<\/p>\n
As the civilian governor of East Timor, he said, he should not
\nhave been convicted by the court as he had no say about security
\nissues in the country's former province, which was then under
\nmartial law.<\/p>\n
\"How can it happen that I, a civilian who did not have any
\nweapons, will be sent to prison because of what the armed forces
\ndid?\" Abilio asked.<\/p>\n
The former East Timor military and police chiefs should be
\nconvicted for permitting the carnage and destruction that
\noccurred when the province voted for independence in 1999, he
\ninsisted.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) issued a summons for
\nAbilio to appear in Jakarta by 2 p.m. at the latest, and the East
\nNusa Tenggara Prosecutor's Office deputy chief Bachtiar Robin
\nPangaribuan came to his home on Friday morning to pick him up.<\/p>\n
But Abilio refused to leave for Jakarta and instead sent his
\nlawyer, O.C.Kaligis, to present a letter to the AGO asking for a
\ndelay in the execution of the sentence.<\/p>\n
\"We are in the process of seeking a review. However, it is
\ntrue that there is no way for him to avoid the Supreme Court's
\nrejection of his appeal,\" Kaligis told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Under the prevailing law, a convicted person must start
\nserving his sentence after the Supreme Court turns down his
\nappeal, even if he files a request for a review.<\/p>\n
Those on death row, however, have their executions stayed
\nuntil their reviews have been heard.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, an AGO spokesman said his office would issue a
\nsecond summons for Abilio next week. \"Should he defy it again, we
\nwill arrest him and forcibly bring him here to start serving his
\njail term,\" Kemas asserted.<\/p>\n
He said the prosecutors would give Abilio another week, but
\nstressed that it would be better for him to show up in Jakarta
\nearlier.<\/p>\n
Abilio was sentenced to three years by the ad hoc human rights
\ntribunal in 2002 for failing to control his subordinates, a
\ndereliction of duty that the court said led to the deaths of 22
\ncivilians during an incident at a Liquisa church in 1999.<\/p>\n
His appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court earlier this
\nyear. The former governor has said that if his application for a
\nreview is rejected, he will seek justice before an \"international
\ncourt\".<\/p>\n
Abilio also claimed that he had received the support of East
\nTimor President Xanana Gusmao and 25 members of the parliament
\nthere, who all said the former governor was not guilty of crimes
\nagainst humanity.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ex-governor-abilio-soares-escapes-jail-for-now-1447893297",
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