SBY told to summon AG over general's E. Timor acquittal<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been urged to summon
\nAttorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh over an Army general's
\nacquittal of human rights violations in the 1999 East Timor
\ncarnage.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court recently upheld the acquittal by the human
\nrights tribunal of Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman, who was the chief of
\nthe now defunct Wiradharma military command in Dili, East Timor,
\nwhen military-backed militias ravaged the former Indonesian
\nprovince during a 1999 independence vote.<\/p>\n
On Monday, a panel of justices upheld Tono's acquittal of all
\ncharges after a team of prosecutors led by Gabrial Simangunsong
\nfailed to submit legal arguments to the Supreme Court to persuade
\nit to convict the one-star general.<\/p>\n
The prosecution team had sought 10 years in jail for Tono, but
\nin May 2003 the ad hoc human rights tribunal acquitted the
\ndefendant of all charges.<\/p>\n
Gabrial appealed to the Supreme Court but failed to submit any
\nlegal arguments before the elapse of the two-year deadline.<\/p>\n
Usman Hamid from the National Commission for Missing Persons
\nand Victims of Violence (Kontras) said on Wednesday that the
\nAttorney General's Office (AGO) must explain why such
\n"negligence" had happened.<\/p>\n
President Susilo should summon Rahman to find out whether the
\n"negligence" had in fact been deliberate in order to ensure
\nTono's freedom, Usman added.<\/p>\n
Sharing Usman's view was human rights lawyer Mugiyanto. He
\naccused the government of lying to the public and the
\ninternational community by failing to provide justice to the
\nvictims of the East Timor carnage and by not jailing those
\nfigures responsible for the violence.<\/p>\n
Monday's ruling on Tono means that 17 defendants in the East Timor
\ntrials have walked free. Former militia chief Eurico Gutteres,
\nwho received 10 years in jail, is the only defendant left
\nappealing against his conviction to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Tono freedom was secured only a month after the United Nations
\nunveiled a plan to conduct its own inquiry into the 1999 rampage,
\nin which Indonesian-backed gangs are accused of killing about
\n1,000 East Timorese.<\/p>",
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