E. Timor court jails ex-Army sergeant

E. Timor court jails ex-Army sergeant

EAST TIMOR: An East Timor court jailed on Wednesday a former Indonesian Army sergeant for crimes against humanity during the territory's 1999 referendum to secede from Jakarta.

It is the first time a former Indonesian soldier has been convicted since the human rights trials began two years ago.

Marcelino Soares was sentenced to 11 years "for crimes against humanity of murder, torture and persecution" committed in April 1999, prosecutors from the United Nations-funded Serious Crimes Unit said in a statement.

Marcelino was convicted of murder over the torture of Luis Dias Soares and two other independence supporters, and for the fatal beating of Luis at an army post.

The Special Panel for Serious Crimes has previously convicted an ethnic East Timorese sergeant in the Indonesian Army of murder and another East Timorese soldier of rape.

Even so, prosecutor Per Halsbog was quoted as saying the conviction of Soares for crimes against humanity was "an important milestone in pursuit of justice". -- AFP