17 more separatists stand trial in Ambon on charges of treason

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon

Seventeen more activists of the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) went on trial in the Ambon District Court on Tuesday on treason charges over a separatist rally in April that sparked renewed violence.

The hearing was held in public and proceeded smoothly under tight guard from dozens of police officers.

The 17 defendants included two civil servants -- Frans Simiasa from the Maluku governor's office, and Yakobus P. Siwarissa, from the province's education office.

Also on trial were Elisa Wattimena, a retired official from the Maluku agrarian affairs office, and senior FKM activist Matheus Talakua.

Prosecutors said the defendants were charged with being actively involved in separatist activities since 2001.

They were guilty of promoting the cause of an independent South Maluku Republic (RMS), which they claimed had been in existence since April 25, 1950, the prosecutors said.

They added that the defendants had participated in a ceremony involving the hoisting of the RMS flag at the house of FKM leader Alex Manuputty in Kudamati district, Ambon, on April 25, 2004, to commemorate the RMS's 54th anniversary.

The government claims that the event triggered three days of riots in Ambon that lasted until April 28, killing at least 41 people, mostly shot by "mystery" snipers.

All the defendants were rounded up after the commemoration ceremony or after the violence had subsided.

Police arrested Matheus Talakua at Juanda Airport in Surabaya, East Java, on May 4 after he was listed as a suspect. He had reportedly made a statement published in the local Siwalima daily on April 29, which the police said had encouraged renewed violence .

In response to the charges under Article 106 of the Criminal Code, Filio Noija, a defense lawyer from the Ambon Legal Aid Institute, said the 17 defendants would accept the charges and would not be presenting defense pleas.

The judges adjourned the trial until next week to hear witness testimony.

The Ambon court started the trials earlier this month of FKM secretary-general Moses Tuwanakotta and the wife of Alex Manuputty, Oly Manuputty. They are facing the same charges.

Their trials resumed on Monday with the hearing of defense pleas.

Alex fled to the United States last December after the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal against his conviction by the lower courts for involvement in the separatist movement in Maluku.