EU, U.S. criticize RI over rights trial

EU, U.S. criticize RI over rights trial

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The European Union and the United States criticized on Wednesday
the overall record of the court trying those accused of
committing rights violation in East Timor in 1999, saying justice
had clearly not been done.

The EU expressed its disappointment in a statement made
available to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

"The trials ... have failed to deliver justice and did not
result in a substantiated account of the violence," said the
statement, which was also signed by non-EU members, including
Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland.

The statement also said the EU was disappointed that the
prosecutors had not submitted all the evidence provided by United
Nations investigators and Indonesia's National Commission on
Human Rights (KPP-HAM).

UN investigators and the rights commission had suggested that
elements of the military, police and civilian government funded,
trained and abetted the local militia groups that laid waste to
East Timor in 1998.

"The United States is disappointed with the performance and
record of the Indonesian ad hoc tribunal," the U.S. State
Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker was quoted by AFP as
saying.

"If you look at all of the cases of this ad hoc tribunal
together, I think it's been a very disappointing process in terms
of rendering justice onto those who have committed horrible
atrocities in East Timor just a few years ago."

The government established the human rights court in 2001 to
preempt calls for an international tribunal to try the military,
police and government officials allegedly involved in the
bloodshed before, during and after the 1999 East Timor
referendum, in which the East Timorese voted for independence
from Indonesia after 24 years of bloody occupation.

Eighteen military and police officers, government officials
and civilians had been brought before the human rights court on
charges related to the atrocities.

Eleven military and police personnel, and one civilian were
acquitted, while six persons -- three Army officers, one
policeman, and two civilians -- were sentenced to between three
and 10 years in jail.

The last person to be tried, Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, the former
Udayana military commander responsible for security in Bali, West
Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and the former East Timor, was
sentenced to three years in jail on Tuesday.

All of those who have been convicted, however, remain free
pending appeal.

With the U.S. and EU expressing their disappointment over the
East Timor trials, pressure for the cancellation of U.S. military
assistance to Indonesia is likely to rise.

In June, the U.S. Senate moved to prevent the release of
US$600,000 in military training funds for Indonesia until those
responsible for the Timika ambush -- widely believed to have been
members of the military -- were brought to justice.

Ifdhal Kasim, executive director of the Institute for Policy
Research and Advocacy, said the ad hoc court's verdicts "were
mostly in violation of the law", pointing out that the sentences
handed down were largely less than the minimum jail term of 10
years mandated by law.

Describing the trials as "far from satisfactory", Ifdhal said
the weak and contradictory indictments presented by the
prosecutors, and the limited capabilities of the judges, who
clearly lacked knowledge of international law, had combined to
subvert the attempt to see justice finally being done.