Abilio first to serve jail time for 1999 East Timor mayhem

Abilio first to serve jail time for 1999 East Timor mayhem

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former East Timor governor Abilio Soares began serving on
Saturday a three-year prison term for his role in the 1999
violence in the former Indonesian province, becoming the first
person to be jailed for the bloodshed.

Abilio arrived in Jakarta on Saturday afternoon from his home
in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, and was taken from Soekarno-Hatta
Airport to Cipinang Prison to begin serving his sentence.
Earlier, the former governor said he would rather be shot dead
than sent to prison.

He had defied a summons to begin serving his sentence on
Friday, saying he was seeking a Supreme Court review of his
conviction.

A group of prosecutors and Abilio's lawyers were at the
airport waiting for the former governor, who was accompanied from
Kupang by the head of the East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's Office,
Bachtiar Robin Pangaribuan.

Abilio was transferred to Cipinang Prison in a Nissan sedan
instead of the standard vehicle normally used to transport
convicts.

"There was no backroom deal. I just found out that the AGO
rejected my request to delay the execution of my sentence,"
Abilio said before leaving Kupang for Jakarta, referring to the
Attorney General's Office.

The office's spokesman, Kemas Yahya Rahman, said on Saturday
that Abilio would have been taken to prison by force if
necessary.

However, Pangaribuan was able to convince Abilio to come to
Jakarta voluntarily, Kemas said.

In Kupang, dozens of supporters accompanied Abilio to the
airport, warning Pangaribuan not to return to the city without
Abilio.

The former governor was able to calm his supporters after some
of them began smashing windows at the airport.

In Cipinang, Abilio will be a neighbor of big-time corruptors
such as Beddu Amang, Pande Lubis, Winfred Simatupang and Dadang
Sukandar in Block H of the prison, warden Giharto said.

Inmates in Block H get their own cells, unlike in other blocks
where dozens of prisoners often find themselves sharing a cell.
But Giharto insisted that Abilio would not receive any special
treatment.

Abilio had sent a letter asking prosecutors to postpone the
execution of his sentence while he filed a review of his
conviction with the Supreme Court, which had already dismissed
his appeal.

A Supreme Court decision is a legally binding verdict that
must be followed up immediately by prosecutors. Any other legal
measures taken by convicts must not stop the execution of their
sentence. The exception is for convicts on death row. Under the
law, their execution must be delayed if they seek a review from
the Supreme Court or clemency from the president.

Abilio reiterated his belief that he was a scapegoat for the
bloodshed in East Timor when the territory voted for independence
in 1999, saying the former military and police chiefs there
should be held responsible for the violence.

He said that as a civilian governor, and with East Timor under
martial law at the time, he did not control the security forces
during the carnage blamed on military-backed militias.

Abilio was sentenced to three years in prison by an ad hoc
human rights tribunal in 2002 for failing to control his
subordinates during an attack on a Liquisa church that left 22
civilians dead.

Three Army officers, a former Dili Police chief and a militia
member were all sentenced by the rights tribunal to a year in
prison but all five remain free pending their appeals.

Eleven military members and one civilian were acquitted by the
tribunal, which many observers say failed to deliver justice
according to international law.