Court orders police to release pro-Indonesia militia leader

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court ordered the police on Monday to release pro-Indonesia East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres, saying that he was a victim of a wrongful arrest.

Eurico, who is being charged with inciting others to commit crimes, had filed for a pretrial hearing calling into question the circumstances of his arrest on Oct. 4 at a hotel in Jakarta.

Judge I.D.G Putra Yandya ruled that police did not produce the necessary warrant, as required by law, at the time of the arrest. The warrant was only issued eight hours afterwards.

"The arrest was wrong and unlawful. It was not supported by sufficient evidence and did not fulfill the formal and material requirements," he said.

Eurico, 27-year-old leader of the militias which lost their struggle for East Timor's integration with Indonesia last year, has been accused of urging his supporters in September in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, to repossess firearms which they had surrendered to the police a few days earlier.

Eurico is also being investigated, along with a number of top military generals, in connection with the campaign of violence after pro-Indonesian supporters lost the UN-sponsored ballot to the proindependence camp in August last year.

Many top politicians, including People's Consultative Assembly chairman Amien Rais and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, have criticized the police over the arrest of Eurico, whom they called a "patriot" for fighting for the honor of the national flag in trying to keep East Timor part of the republic.

Eurico, whose detention status was changed to a house arrest at the weekend, hailed the court's ruling as a sign that the law still existed in this country.

"I am released because I am right," Eurico told reporters from his safe house, located in a complex which houses top Jakarta Police officers inside the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

He recalled that the two police officers who picked him up at the time of his arrest only informed him that some officers had wanted to talk to him.

There was no mention of arrest, let alone a warrant, he said.

"I trusted the officers because I had known them when they were posted in East Timor. I even thought that the police wanted to give me money because I had fought for this country," he said.

The National Police said later that they would appeal against the court ruling.

"I haven't heard the full report yet, but if that's the court decision, then we would appeal," said National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro.

Eurico's lawyer, Suhardi Somomoeljono, said after the verdict that he would seek police protection for his client, fearing that his life could be in danger as a result of his connection to the various investigations he is facing.

The United Nations Transition Authority in East Timor has also requested his extradition to answer criminal charges in the newly independent East Timor. Jakarta has rejected the demand.

Suhardi said he expected Eurico to be released on Tuesday once all the paper work had been completed. (01/jaw)