Dutch to reveal probe on Thoenes

Dutch to reveal probe on Thoenes

JAKARTA: The secretariat of the human rights ad hoc
prosecutors revealed on Monday that Dutch police assigned to
probe the murder of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes in the 1999
East Timor debacle will hand over the investigation's result to
Attorney General M.A. Rachman on July 17.

Secretary Umar Bawazier, accompanied by Attorney General
deputy spokesman Chuck Suryosumpeno, told reporters that the
probe carried out by Chief Inspector GWC Thiery of the Royal
Netherlands Police may provide hard proof to reopen Indonesia's
investigation into the case.

Thoenes, a Jakarta-based writer for London's Financial Times,
was killed on the first day he arrived in Dili on Sept. 21, 1999,
as he and motorcycle driver Florindo Counseiho Araujo traveled
around Dili to cover the post-ballot destruction of the city. In
Becora suburb, a former militia stronghold, armed men chased the
motorcycle and shot out the rear wheel.

His body was found the next day with multiple wounds and an
ear missing.

The ad hoc prosecutors dropped the case due to what they say
was a lack of evidence. --JP