Activists criticise Court verdicts on East Timor cases

Activists criticise Court verdicts on East Timor cases

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Supreme Court's decision find former East Timor governor
Abilio Soares Jose Osorio Soares guilty of rights violations has
drawn criticism from activists, who claimed the verdict was
"discriminatory and insidious".

Hendardi, who heads the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights
Association (PBHI), said the verdict confirmed public concern
that the trial was held just to appease the international
community.

"Justice has not been done for the East Timorese victims who
suffered arbitrary torture and death," said Hendardi, criticizing
the judges for failing to apply the human rights legislation
correctly.

Hendardi, who was as a lawyer for former political prisoner
Xanana Gusmao, now the president of independent East Timor, also
lambasted the Supreme Court for the disparities in its decisions
on military/police officers and civilian officials.

"What is going on? Both the police and military were
responsible for security back then," said Hendardi, referring to
the period in the run-up to, during, and after the United
Nations-sponsored independence referendum in Indonesia's former
27th province.

In a climate of intense international pressure, a total of 18
civilians, and military and police personnel were brought to the
ad hoc human rights court for their failure to prevent the bloody
rampage that killed hundreds of pro-independence East Timorese in
1999.

Most of the defendants, including Army generals, were
acquitted for lack of evidence of direct involvement in the
violence. But even those who were found guilty were given light
sentences.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court announced a guilty verdict
against Abilio, who in 1999 was acting more as a figurehead than
the governor of East Timor.

A panel of five judges upheld the verdict of lower courts that
sentenced Abilio to three years in jail, far below the minimum 10
years jail term provided for by Law No. 26/2000 on the human
rights court.

The guilty verdict came after the same court acquitted three
senior military and police officers -- former East Timor Police
chief Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen, former Covalima Regent Col.
Herman Sedyono, and former Army Special Forces (Kopassus)
Tribuana Commander Lt. Col. Yayat Sudrajat.

According to the verdict, Abilio was guilty of failing to
prevent and halt violence involving his subordinates that claimed
the lives of East Timorese in 1999. It also stipulated that the
sentence handed down was based on justice, not revenge.

The Attorney General's Office said over the weekend that it
would execute the verdict after it received a copy.

"The Supreme Court verdict is final. It must be executed
despite any further legal moves by the defendant or his lawyers,"
Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman said.