Abilio acquittal 'erodes trust in rights tribunal'
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The acquittal of former East Timor governor Abilio Soares could further erode people's confidence in the country's commitment to justice, a senior Cabinet minister announced on Friday.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said that the verdict served as fresh ammunition for people to question the credibility of the courts.
"I am sure the decision provides more reasons for others to question the credibility of the ad hoc human rights tribunals," Hassan said after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Abilio, the only official to be jailed for atrocities related to the United Nations-backed referendum in East Timor in 1999, was acquitted Thursday on the grounds that is was under military rule at the time of the bloodshed.
A total of 18 civilians and military and police officers were implicated in the bloody rampage, but only three civilians were sentenced to jail, including Abilio. All of the military and police defendants were acquitted.
Rights activists have called the trials a sham, held merely to avert an international rights trial for the military personnel allegedly responsible for the violence.
Criminal law experts from the University of Indonesia's school of law Rudy Satryo Mukantarjo warned that the verdict would likely "endanger Indonesia's position in the international community."
"The United Nations could try the cases in the International Criminal Court (ICC), if it considers the tribunal in Indonesia substandard," he said.
Bonar Tigor Naipospos of the Solidarity Without Borders human rights group said Abilio was as guilty as the security officers, and that judges had "overlooked" abuses under Abilio before the military took over.
"For example, he was still the territory's governor during a bloody attack by militias on the house of pro-independence figure Manuel Carrascalao in April 1999," he was quoted by the Agence- France-Presse.
At least 12 people were killed when pro-Jakarta militia members attacked dozens of refugees sheltering at Carrascalao's house.
Abilio, who was serving his three-year sentence handed down by the ad hoc rights tribunal in 2002, said in his review hearing that the Indonesian Military (TNI) was responsible for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999.
Submitted as new evidence in the case review was, among other items, letters from East Timorese figures and president Xanana Gusmao, which state that Abilio is innocent.
Abilio also argued that the military disliked him because he once suggested that regents and local councillors should all be reserved for native East Timorese to strengthen integration.
He also accused the military of a series of attempts, including a demonstration by militia leader Eurico Guterres, to topple him.
Three of the five justices accepted his arguments, while two rejected them. The two were Artidjo Alkostar, who has a master's degree in international human rights law, and former diplomat Soemaryo Suryokusumo, known also as an international law expert.
Abilio's acquittal has raised questions as to who should be held responsible for the violence that drove more than 200,000 East Timorese into West Timor and destroyed almost 80 percent of infrastructure in the former Portuguese colony in 1999.