19 suspects named in East Timor case

JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office named 19 people on Friday, including three generals, "possible suspects" in last year's violence in East Timor.

Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes M. Rachman told a news conference that the generals were former Udayana Military commander Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, former East Timor military commander Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman and former East Timor police chief Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen.

Conspicuously missing from the list were Indonesian Military (TNI) chief at that time Gen. (ret) Wiranto, former intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim and infamous militia leader Eurico Guterres.

Later on Friday evening, however, Attorney General's Office spokesman Yushar Yahya contacted The Jakarta Post to correct the term "possible suspects", saying the 19 were, in fact, considered suspects.

He did not elaborate on the confusion which occurred earlier in the day.

"It's alright to change 'possible suspects' to 'suspects'. We don't want to prolong debate about the differences of the two terms," he said.

All 19 suspects had been named in an earlier report by an inquiry from a National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) team which implicated 33 military and civilian officers in the violence.

Wiranto, in the report, was said to be "morally responsible" for the East Timor violence. Wiranto has denied any wrongdoings.

Also named by the Attorney General's Office on Friday were Tono Suratman's replacement, Col. Noer Muis, former chief of the feared SGI intelligence task force in East Timor Col. Yayat Sudrajat, who is a member of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) and former East Timor governor Jose Abilio Osorio Soares.

Three police lieutenant colonels and three Army lieutenant colonels, respectively the former police and military chiefs of Dili, Liquica and Suai, were also named as suspects.

One Army captain, an Army lieutenant, three former militia members and former regents of Liquica and Covalima were also on the list.

Rachman, who read out the list of suspects, said he did not close the possibility of naming more suspects in the violence.

"The investigation into the alleged gross human rights violations (in East Timor) is still continuing, so we are not closing the possibility of naming new suspects," Rachman, who is leading the investigation, said.

Rachman said the decision to name the suspects was not because of "international pressure" or "public euphoria" but was based on "strong confidence" (in the evidence).

He said the 19 were named suspects for their alleged involvement in five major cases in East Timor.

They are: an April 17 attack on proindependence leader Manuel Carrascalao's house in Dili which killed at least 12; the Sept. 6 attack at the home of Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo; a massacre of refugees in a church in Liquica in April; a massacre in a church in Suai in September where at least 26 people died; and the killing of The Financial Times correspondent Sander Thoenes in the East Dili area of Becora on Sept. 21.

Rahman said that pending the completion of the deliberation of the bill on a human rights tribunal by the House of Representatives, the investigation would be based on the 1999 government regulation in lieu of a law on human rights tribunal.

The bill is expected to be passed before the end of September.

The new bill could provide the key legal instrument to try top military generals for rights abuses as it includes an article which can snare those who aided and abetted rights violations.

Article 35 of the bill, a copy of which was obtained by the Post, stipulates that "every state official, military or police officer who allows or fails to prevent his or her subordinates from committing gross human violations is liable to face the same possible punishment as those who directly commit violations".

The bill varies punishment from three years to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the defense team for TNI officers implicated in the case said in a statement on Friday it would demand a judicial review as there was still controversy surrounding the legal basis of the case.

Referring to a constitutional amendment which prevents an individual from being prosecuted under laws that did not exist when the crime was committed, the statement, signed by Adnan Buyung Nasution and Yan Juanda Saputra, said the Attorney General's Office did not have a monopoly on legal truth. (byg/bby)