Abilio plans to take Timor abuses to ICJ

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former East Timor governor Abilio Soares has threatened to bring human rights abuses in the territory in 1999 to the International Court of Justice (ICG) if forced to serve a three-year jail term.

Abilio said he has been made a scapegoat to protect certain individuals responsible for security in the former Indonesian province.

"The guilty verdict issued by the Supreme Court shocked me as I was hoping to find justice here in Indonesia. If I am forced to serve the jail term, I will bring the case to the International Court of Justice," he said here on Friday.

Abilio, accompanied by lawyer O.C. Kaligis, said he would take those legal steps still available to him to avoid jail.

"Once I receive a copy of the verdict, I will do anything to avoid the punishment," he said.

According to the law, once a defendant's sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court, he or she can apply for presidential clemency or request a judicial review.

The Supreme Court upheld the three-year jail term given to Abilio by an ad hoc rights tribunal. The former governor was convicted of failing to prevent violence in East Timor ahead of, during and after the territory's independence referendum in 1999.

Abilio is one of 17 civilians, police officers and military soldiers brought to trial for the violence in East Timor in 1999, when dozens of independence supporters were killed and almost 80 percent of the territory's infrastructure was destroyed.

Earlier, the Supreme Court cleared one former police officer and two military soldiers of human rights abuses. Other defendants were either acquitted or given light sentences, though those defendants found guilty remain free pending appeal.

Abilio said he should not be held responsible for the breakdown of peace and security in East Timor because he was no longer in charge when the violence occurred.

"I do not understand why I should be held responsible for the violence in the province since I no longer had any power as governor after the signing of the May tripartite agreement," said Abilio, referring to an agreement that stipulated that all administrative matters fell under the supervision of the UN Mission in East Timor.

"If the court blames me for failing to maintain security during, before and after the ballot, it should be understood that the same agreement stipulates that the police, backed by the military, were responsible for security in the territory," said Abilio, while joking that he planned to flee Jakarta as soon as possible.