Court delays rights trial verdict

JAKARTA: The Indonesian human rights court delayed sentencing a senior police officer over charges stemming from East Timor's bloody secession from Indonesia in 1999, saying it needed to hear further testimony from witnesses.

Lt. Col. Hulman Gultom, the former police chief of East Timor's capital Dili, is accused of failing to prevent pro- Jakarta militiamen from massacring at least 12 pro-independence supporters in the city on April, 17, 1999.

He was due to be sentenced Wednesday, but Judge Adriani Nurdin said the court needed to hear more testimony from East Timorese witnesses, including former Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo.

Nurdin said the court planned to use video-conferencing technology to enable the witnesses to testify without leaving East Timor. At least one Timorese witness has complained of intimidation when he was brought to Jakarta to testify.

Gultom's trial is the latest in a series designed to bring those responsible for the violence to justice.

So far, seven Indonesian officers have been cleared of all charges. Only two of the accused, the former governor of East Timor and a notorious militia leader, have been found guilty and sentenced accordingly. Both are East Timorese civilians.

Local and international human rights groups have described the trials as a sham.