East Timor judge issues arrest warrant for Wiranto

East Timor judge issues arrest warrant for Wiranto

Agencies, Jakarta

A United Nations-backed East Timor tribunal issued an arrest warrant on Monday for former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto for his alleged crimes against humanity in 1999 when East Timor broke from Jakarta's rule.

Responding to the charge, Wiranto, the Golkar Party presidential candidate, maintained his innocence and said continuing speculation about his legal status was "character assassination."

The Indonesian government has refused to accept the jurisdiction of the East Timor court, which -- unlike those for the former Yugoslavia or Rwanda -- was not constituted by the UN Security Council as a fully fledged war crimes tribunal. It made it clear on Monday that it had no intention of arresting or extraditing those charged by the tribunal.

The warrant comes more than a year after Wiranto was indicted by prosecutors from the East Timor Serious Crimes Unit and less than a month after he won the presidential nomination for the Golkar Party.

Golkar, the political vehicle of former autocrat Soeharto, was the winner of the April 5 parliamentary elections.

"The issuance of the Wiranto warrant is an important step in our continuing efforts to bring justice to those responsible for the violence against the civilian population of East Timor in 1999," said Serious Crimes Unit special prosecutor Nicholas Koumijan in a statement.

Wiranto was Indonesian Military chief when military-backed militiamen waged a murderous campaign against independence supporters in East Timor, then an Indonesian territory.

More than 1,000 people died in bloody fighting at the time, with the bulk of the deaths blamed on the militias.

Wiranto has consistently denied committing any human rights violations, saying an Indonesian judicial panel found him innocent of such accusations.

"I believe that the issue came to the surface again after I became a presidential candidate. I think this is an attempt at character assassination," he said after the warrant was issued.

Wiranto has repeatedly said he has good relations with some of East Timor's top leaders.

The indictment brought against Wiranto in February 2003 charged him "with command responsibility for murder, deportation and persecution committed in the context of a widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population in East Timor".

It argues that under international law, commanders are criminally responsible if they know of crimes against humanity by those under their control and fail to act to stop them.

However, Indonesia immediately rejected the arrest warrant against Wiranto, saying East Timor courts had no jurisdiction over Indonesians.

"We will continue to reject the jurisdiction of the East Timor (Serious Crimes Unit) unit over our Indonesian national (Wiranto)," Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty A. Natalegawa told The Jakarta Post.

"We won't get crazy about (the warrant) because this is not the first time they have came up with such a ruling," Marty said. Indonesia's focus would remain on its own ongoing legal process dealing with human rights violations in East Timor.

"Pak Wiranto has never been indicted as a suspect," Marty said.

Asked, by Reuters whether this arrest warrant should be honored by Indonesia, East Timor prosecutor Koumijan said: "Every government has that duty."

"My hope is that governments will cooperate in bringing him to court," he said.

The East Timor Serious Crimes Unit and court were set up with UN backing and advice and include international staff. The judge who issued the warrant is an American.