Eurico facing life sentence for murder, torture

Eurico facing life sentence for murder, torture

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eurico Guterres, former commander of the pro-Jakarta Aitarak
militia in East Timor, stood trial at the Central Jakarta
District Court on charges of murder and torture in the attacks on
East Timorese leaders before the 1999 ballot.

The camouflage-clad Guterres was charged with torture and
murder, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

According to the court's proceeding, Eurico was responsible
for the attacks on the residences of proindependence East Timor
leaders Manuel Viego Carrascalao and Leandro Isaac which killed
12 civilians and the son of Carrascalao on April 17, 1999, some
four months before the ballot was conducted.

The government prosecutors said that the defendant was held
responsible for the attack because he failed to prevent his
followers from attacking and delivered an address before the
militiamen, inciting them to violence against East Timorese
supporting the territory's separation from Indonesia.

Eurico who wore his prointegration fighters (PPI) uniform in
court, pled not guilty to the prosecutor's charges.

"The indictment makes me laugh," he told the court which was
packed with his fellow militiamen, "I was only a deputy commander
of PPI. It is not me but former president B.J. Habibie who should
be held responsible for all crimes against humanity in East Timor
because the crimes were caused by his controversial decision."

The former president was applauded by pro-democracy people
here and the international community, but came under heavy fire
from the military and nationalists when he made an agreement with
the UN for the East Timorese people to conduct a ballot, in which
some 80 percent voted for freedom.

In its other session, the ad hoc court examined former East
Timorese provincial police Insp. Gen. Timbul Silaen, a defendant
in the 1999 post-ballot mayhem in East Timor and also subpoenaed
several former government officials to testify about the violent
rampage.

Judge Andi Samsan Nganro who presided over the court session,
ordered prosecutor James Pardede to bring former foreign minister
Ali Alatas, former coordinating minister for political and
security affairs Feisal Tanjung and Agus Tarmizi of the Foreign
Ministry to the next session to testify about the multilateral
deals that preceded the ballot.

"We ask Your Honor to summon the three witnesses because their
statements will be crucial in unraveling the diplomatic deals
concerning the East Timorese ballot. We bear the consequences on
our shoulders should their testimony implicate the defendants,"
he stated.

Feisal, who established the former task force to publicize the
East Timor ballot (P3TT), had been questioned by the former
inquiry committee (KPF) established by the National Commission on
Human Rights (Komnas HAM) early in 2000 due to the existence of
the "Garnadi Paper", a document urging systematic destruction in
East Timor signed by Feisal's former assistant Maj. Gen. (ret)
Garnadi.

Garnadi admitted that it was his signature on the document but
denied knowledge of the content.

Timbul told the court that the expedited announcement of the
result of the independence ballot from the scheduled Sept. 7 to
Sept. 4, had been the main reason for the consecutive attacks by
the prointegration militia on proindependence supporters which
the security forces failed to curb.

He expected the court to find the reasons why the Indonesian
government agreed with the decision to expedite the announcement
date.

The police, he said, who was in charge of security, had
commenced Hanoin Lorosae operations to publicize the ballot and
to secure the announcement of the ballot.

Komnas HAM member Koesparmono Irsan, who was coordinator of
the Commission for Peace and Stability, testified in defense of
Timbul, claiming that the violence was partially a result of the
commission's failure to disarm the militia groups.

"The riots were inevitable but there was not massive
destruction," he said, adding that UNAMET should also be
responsible for the failure because it was also tasked to disarm
the militiamen.

According to the May 5 tripartite agreement, UNAMET was
responsible only for the administration of the ballot, while the
Indonesian National Police were responsible for all security
concerns, including disarming the people.