East Timor's president criticizes jail term for ex-governor over

East Timor's president criticizes jail term for ex-governor over 1999 violence

Guido Guilliart Associated Press/Dili

East Timor's president said on Monday that Indonesian security forces were responsible for the violence that swept his country in 1999 - not the territory's last governor, who began serving a jail term in Indonesia over the weekend.

Xanana Gusmao said former governor Abilio Jose Soares, who is ethnically East Timorese, should not have been imprisoned for the violence that accompanied the country's break from 24 years of Indonesian rule in 1999.

"He is a political scapegoat," Gusmao said. "A civilian governor was not responsible for the violence at that time."

Soares began a three-year prison term on Saturday, becoming the first person to be punished in Indonesia over the bloodshed.

Gusmao said Indonesian police and military officials should be blamed because they signed an agreement before a United Nations (UN)-sponsored referendum on independence accepting responsibility for security during the ballot.

As many as 2,000 people were killed and much of East Timor was destroyed in 1999 by rampaging pro-Indonesian militia.

Gusmao has not aggressively pushed Indonesia to punish those responsible for the violence, saying that maintaining good ties between the two countries was more important.

Former legislator Manuel Viegas Carrascalao, who lost his son in a militia attack ahead of the vote, said Soares deserved the punishment.

"Maybe he did not kill anyone, but he let others kill," he said. "When the militias killed my son, he stayed silent."

Soares was the first Indonesian official to be punished for the bloodshed out of 18 mostly military and police officials originally put on trial. He was convicted of failing to stop the violence.

Fifteen others have been acquitted. Appeals by two remaining defendants are expected soon.

Critics say the string of not-guilty verdicts handed down in Indonesia means it has failed to live up to its promises to punish those responsible for the violence.