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)