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.