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.