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.