East Timor defendant to walk free

East Timor defendant to walk free

JAKARTA: Indonesia's much criticized attempt to bring to justice
military officers accused in the destruction of East Timor is
scheduled to end Tuesday with the highest-ranking soldier
implicated in the bloodshed almost certain to walk free.

The prosecution itself has asked that Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri be
acquitted - an outcome likely to add to outrage among local and
international rights groups, which have called the trials a
whitewash.

A stack of similar acquittals has hurt efforts to reform
Indonesia's notoriously brutal military and make it accountable
for abuses in East Timor and elsewhere in Indonesia, including
the separatist-minded province of Aceh, where the government
launched an offensive in May.

"This will give (the military) a new sense of impunity and
increase their political leverage," said Hendardi, who heads
Indonesia's Human Rights and Legal Aid Association.

"If they can get away with it in East Timor, they will feel
they can get away with it in Aceh," said Hendardi who like many
Indonesians goes by a single name.

On Tuesday, a Jakarta court is scheduled to deliver its
verdict in Damiri's trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

East Timor was under Damiri's area of command when soldiers
and army-trained militia laid waste to the province after voters
opted for independence in a U.N. plebiscite in August, 1999.

The territory finally became independent in May 2002. --AP