Activists lash out at E. Timor probe

Activists lash out at E. Timor probe

JAKARTA (JP): Leading human rights groups on Friday blasted
the government's tedious approach in investigating last year's
violence in East Timor, saying that the investigation does not
meet international standards.

The government was also reproached for its tendency to handle
investigations into the violence in the territory as "ordinary
crimes".

The rights groups argued that the violent clashes which
erupted after the August 30 ballot in the former Indonesian
province were "political crimes and crimes against humanity" and
were not being well-addressed in the Indonesian Criminal Code,
which has so far been the basis for the attorney general's
investigation.

Leading the criticism were groups such as the Indonesian Legal
Aid Foundation (YLBHI), the Commission for Missing Persons and
Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Rights Association (PBHI) and the Institute for Policy Research
and Advocacy (ELSAM).

"By questioning the witnesses, whether they were physically
present at the scene or not, has shown that the attorney
general's office uses an approach similar to that of a criminal
investigation," Kontras' founder, Munir, said.

He was referring to the ongoing questioning of several
military and police officers who were allegedly involved in the
East Timor catastrophe.

Munir said he feared this method would only incriminate
soldiers and low ranking officers, while senior officers who were
not "directly on the ground" would not be implicated and would
remain free of prosecution.

He also said the investigation should not be "started all over
again" because the findings from the Commission of Inquiry into
Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor should be
admissible as "preliminary evidence".

KPP HAM implicated earlier this year former Indonesian
military Gen. (ret) Wiranto and 32 other military and civilian
officers in the East Timor violence

Wiranto, who has been suspended as coordinating minister for
political affairs and security by President Abdurrahman Wahid
pending the investigation, has denied any wrongdoing.

The attorney general's office will have three months from
April to report its findings, with the possibility of a further
three-month extension.

Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes M. Rahman, who
leads a 64-member team of investigators, has said that some 21
military and civilian officers would be questioned in the
investigation.

He said the prosecutors have yet to name any suspect but added
that the status of each would be decided after the investigators
return from East Timor.

Marzuki said last month the team would travel to the territory
sometime this month.

Initially the investigation will focus on five cases which
will be considered for prosecution.

They are: an April 17 attack on proindependence leader Manuel
Carrascalao's house in Dili which killed at least 12; the Sept. 6
attack at the home of Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo; a
massacre of refugees in a church in Liquica in April; a massacre
in a church in Suai in September where at least 26 people died;
and the killing of Financial Times correspondent Sander Thoenes
in the East Dili area of Becora on Sept. 21. (byg)