East Timor trial in three months

East Timor trial in three months

JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said on
Wednesday that trials of those accused of involvement in the
campaign of terror and destruction in East Timor last year would
start in three months.

"We have given a general picture that within three months the
trials could have started," Marzuki said after a 30-minute
meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the
Attorney General's Office.

"Within three to four weeks, there will be a number of people
who will be named as suspects."

The government-sanctioned inquiry on East Timor has
recommended the Attorney General's Office launch an investigation
into former Indonesian Military chief Gen. Wiranto and 32
military and civilian officials for alleged involvement in the
violence following a self-determination ballot in the territory.

Marzuki also said Annan assured him the UN "will fully
support" the Indonesian government's effort to acquire data on
atrocities in East Timor which were gathered by the International
Commission of Inquiry on East Timor.

"Kofi Annan has assured us that the Attorney General's Office
will be given full access to obtain data and evidence that have
been collected by the inquiry," Marzuki said, referring to the UN
team led by Costa Rican jurist Sonia Picado.

Jakarta has rejected the possibility of an international
tribunal on the devastation, arguing that it can investigate and
bring to justice those responsible.

While Marzuki's statement of an impending trial raises hopes
that justice may be forthcoming in the East Timor saga, it also
took many by surprise as the Attorney General's Office only
officially received the inquiry's report on Jan. 31.

The Attorney General's Office began to form a special team to
examine the findings on Tuesday.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Soehandoyo admitted on
Tuesday "it will likely take a long time to examine the 4,000
documents submitted".

Many also were taken aback that Marzuki assured a trial would
take place even though no suspects have been named.

Friends

President Abdurrahman Wahid assured the visiting UN chief
earlier on Wednesday of his commitment to prosecute those
responsible.

Speaking to journalists after meeting with Annan at Merdeka
Palace, the President said he told Annan that the Indonesian
government would work in the right manner in handling accused
human rights violators.

"We will prosecute those involved. And then later the verdict
will tell us what to do," the President said.

During his meeting with Annan, the President was accompanied
by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Minister of Foreign
Affairs Alwi Shihab.

Asked whether he had issued a written guarantee to the
secretary-general, Abdurrahman replied: "Between friends there is
no need for such assurances."

Annan, who arrived on Tuesday for a three-day visit, praised
the President's convictions.

"It is important that those who were responsible for the
atrocities be brought to justice in order to send a message out
that impunity will not be allowed to stand, and it will also be a
deterrent to those who will be minded to attempt that in the
future," Annan told reporters.

He said the UN Security Council would not set up an
international tribunal if Indonesia could prove its ability to
punish those responsible

"Of course, if that doesn't happen, the council has a right to
revert to it."

The President suspended Coordinating Minister for Political
Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto late on Sunday.

After a morning meeting with Minister of Defense Juwono
Sudarsono, Annan dismissed speculation that international
pressure led Abdurrahman to reverse his initial decision not to
suspend Wiranto from his Cabinet post.

"I think it's the prerogative right of the President and I
don't believe he needed any international pressure to make the
judgment," he said.

"As a political leader who is in charge of this country, he
(Abdurrahman) exercised his prerogative rights."

Annan also met with members of the National Commission on
Human Rights. Discussions included the possibility of UN
assistance in training Indonesian prosecutors in human rights
trials.

Annan will continue to Dili for a two-day stay in East Timor's
capital.

A plan for Annan to travel across the border to the Indonesian
half of Timor island to visit the town of Atambua, where some
150,000 refugees remain, has been canceled.

Officials said the trip would have consumed too much time in
Annan's brief visit to the territory.

Meanwhile, Wiranto kept up a public relations campaign of
telling his side of the story.

After a surprise radio interview on Tuesday, he was given a
prime-time slot on private television station RCTI.

Appearing composed, Wiranto casually detailed the events
leading up to the violence in East Timor and the specific efforts
he took to avert the violence.

As well showing prepared diagrams, RCTI aired a lengthy speech
Wiranto made to East Timorese leaders in Dili shortly before the
ballot in which he pleaded for peace.

He repeatedly said there was no premeditation by TNI as an
institution to cause havoc in East Timor.(01/emf/prb/byg)