Abilio acquittal 'erodes trust in rights tribunal'

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.