Three East Timorese to testify in rights' violation trials<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
East Timor citizen Dominggos dos Santos Mouzinho arrived here on
\nMonday under heavy escort to testify in a hearing on Tuesday as
\npart of the human rights tribunal against suspected rights
\nviolators in the 1999 East Timor atrocities.<\/p>\n
The victim witness had been expected to arrive on Sunday but
\nthe airplane flight was delayed.<\/p>\n
Jakarta policemen and the human rights ad hoc prosecutors
\nescorted Mouzinho, who was accompanied by two staff of the United
\nNations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) serious crime
\nunit and an interpreter, to the state's safe house, Attorney
\nGeneral's Office spokesman Barman Zahir told a media briefing on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Mouzinho will fly back to East Timor immediately after
\nTuesday's hearing and return on Wednesday along with two other
\nvictim witnesses: Emmilio Barreto and Joao Pereira.<\/p>\n
The three will testify at other hearings on Thursday and will
\nthen take the flight home on Friday.<\/p>\n
Security has become the key issue determining the presence of
\nvictim witnesses in the courtroom, as four of eight witnesses
\nsummoned by the prosecutors have refused to testify against the
\ndefendants, who are mostly military and police officers.<\/p>\n
The victim witnesses' appearance is the most eagerly awaited
\nmoment in Indonesia's first human rights trial because, as many
\npeople believe, they will be the key to securing convictions, as
\nall of the witnesses produced thus far at the hearings have been
\nthe subordinates or colleagues of the defendants.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office, in cooperation with the
\nNational Police, will bear the expense of protection of the
\nvictim witnesses, including their accommodation while in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The ad hoc human rights prosecutors summoned Mouzinho to
\ntestify against five former officials of Covalima regency, some
\n300 kilometers south of the capital, Dili. They are believed to
\nhave been responsible for the death of civilian refugees in the
\narea.<\/p>\n
The defendants are former Covalima regent Col. Herman Sedyono,
\nformer Suai military commander Lt. Col. Liliek Koeshadianto, his
\nsuccessor Lt. Col. Sugito, former Suai military command chief of
\nstaff Capt. Achmad Syamsudin and former Suai Police precinct
\nchief Lt. Col. Gatot Subiaktoro.<\/p>\n
They are charged with involvement in the shootings of at least
\n27 civilians, including three Catholic priests, who took refuge
\nin the St. Ave Maria Church in Suai, Covalima regency, on Sept.
\n6, 1999, two days after the results of the independence vote in
\nEast Timor were announced.<\/p>\n
Mouzinho is one of the survivors of the shootings.<\/p>\n
The dead were buried at Metamauk village in Wemasa, Belu
\nregency, East Nusa Tenggara, in the presence of Sugito.<\/p>\n
Early investigations revealed that the civilians, who were
\nmostly women and children, were attacked by a group of pro-
\nJakarta militia, Laksaur.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/three-east-timorese-to-testify-in-rights-violation-trials-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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