Discovery of bodies a clue to East Timor turmoil

Text and photos by IGGP Bayu Ismoyo

BELU, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): At 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 25, a team from the central board of the National Commission on Human Rights and an assistance team led by commission member H.S. Dillon, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Supardi and Munir, headed toward a location in East Nusa Tenggara province.

It was estimated that on Oeluli coast, Alas Selatan village, Wemasa subdistrict of Kobalima district in Belu regency there were 26 bodies, three of whom were priests buried in three graves in a mass burial. They allegedly died during an incident at Suai Church in East Timor on Aug. 5.

The highly secretive trip, heavily escorted by the Atambua Mobile Brigade, took two hours by land from the group's lodging, which was actually living quarters for priests.

Upon arriving at 5 a.m., the Mobil Brigade members first carried out their duty of sweeping the area because they were informed that the safety guarantee from the police was only valid for 12 hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The isolated location on the coast, which was uninhabited for one kilometer, was finally made safe to be mapped immediately by the assistance team led by Laksono, the assisting coordinator of the Commission of Human Rights central board and concurrently an anthropologist at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

At 10:10 a.m., the mapping was finished. The team organized a prayer ceremony before the digging of the graves started.

The digging was done very cautiously. The location was ascertained by witnesses' accounts and the digging was led by a team of the University of Indonesia's Medical School's forensic doctors, which was led by Dr. Budi Sampurna.

At about the 10th layer, one of the doctors found a mat apparently used to cover a body. The diggers detected a foul smell and all those present were witnesses to the event. The finding was immediately measured, and its characteristics noted and photographed.

The witnesses on site were the East Nusa Tenggara chief Public Prosecutor Prasetya, the East Nusa Tenggara Regional Police chief Brig. Gen. Yusuf Sudrajat, local priests and members of the Commission on Human Rights.

In the first grave, three bodies were found in parallel position with their heads lying toward the northeast. They were recognized as Father Tarcisius Dewanto, Father Hilario Madeira and Father Francisco Soares. The second and third graves yielded 23 more bodies.

Autopsies could only be performed on the three priests.

At 5 p.m. the work was declared finished after the location was restored to its previous orderly state and all garbage was collected.

The team arrived in Emaus and had a rest. The work went smoothly and yielded very good results because it had very accurate supporting data.

The next day the autopsies were completed by about 2 p.m. at Atambua Hospital. The medical team was fully convinced that 90 percent of the 26 bodies autopsied were killed by sharp weapons and bullets.

On the same day, the team from Dili, East Timor, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), carried the 26 bodies back to East Timor to bury them. The bodies of the three priests were buried in Dili, and the 23 others in Suai.

There was no crying during the burial, only fatigue and pain.