'Troops erred in Liquisa incident'<\/p>\n
CILODONG, Bogor, West Java (JP): The army has acknowledged
\nthat troops deviated from standard procedures in the incident
\nwhich took place on Jan. 12 in Liquisa, East Timor, in which six
\nEast Timorese were killed.<\/p>\n
Army Chief of Staff, General Raden Hartono, said yesterday
\nthat the troops, who were on a routine patrol of the Liquisa
\narea, had deviated from standard procedures during the operation.<\/p>\n
However, Hartono refused to give details of the errors made.<\/p>\n
The National Commission for Human Rights announced recently
\nthat it had found that the troops had violated basic human rights
\nwhen they killed the six villagers.<\/p>\n
Hartono, who was speaking to reporters after attending a
\ncelebration of the 34th anniversary of the Army Strategic Reserve
\nCommand, said: \"Every soldier who is sent to a battle zone should
\ncomply with military procedures.\"<\/p>\n
He said that in the military, it is always officers who are
\nheld responsible for such incidents, rather than privates.<\/p>\n
He said a seven-officer team of the Officers' Honor Council
\nhad left for Dili, East Timor, yesterday to further investigate
\nthe case, or to follow up the findings of a preliminary
\ninvestigation conducted by a team from the Armed Forces (ABRI)
\nearly last month.<\/p>\n
The ABRI team, who conducted an investigation at the site of
\nthe tragedy, announced later that the troops had deviated from
\nstandard procedures during the operation, but insisted that two
\nof the deceased were rebels and the rest were sympathizers.<\/p>\n
\"The second team will further investigate what errors were
\ncommitted, how they occurred and who committed them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
April<\/p>\n
He said he expected the team would report to him by early
\nApril. Hartono said that, on the basis of the report, he would
\nconclude whether the error had been committed intentionally or
\nnot.<\/p>\n
\"If the error was serious, those responsible will be sent to
\nthe military tribunal but, if not (serious), they would only be
\ndisciplined by their commanders,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hartono said the team would investigate how the victims were
\nkilled and how they were buried.<\/p>\n
\"It is also possible for the team to exhume the bodies of the
\nvictims in the course of its investigation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
However, Hartono said that the six victims were not civilians
\nand that the fatal incident had not been a violation of human
\nrights.<\/p>\n
\"Seen from the military's point of view, those killed in the
\nbloody clash were members of the Fretilin armed separatist
\ngroup,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) hailed
\nthe Human Rights Commission's findings yesterday, saying that
\nthey should be revealed to the public in detail, in order to
\npromote the observance of basic rights in East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"The government should also establish an independent national
\nteam to investigate the incident; to complete the findings of the
\ninvestigations conducted by the Commission and ABRI,\" the
\nstatement said.<\/p>\n
The YLBHI said further that any military officers found guilty
\nin relation to the incident should be brought before the military
\ntribunal. (rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/troops-erred-in-liquisa-incident-1447893297",
"image": ""
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