Former generals visit Abilio

JAKARTA: In a show of support, 12 retired generals paid a visit on Monday to former East Timor governor Abilio Soares, who is serving a three-year jail term in Cipinang prison in East Jakarta.

"He (Abilio) is not alone as we stand behind him. He's a hero, not someone who should be serving a jail term," said the former Indonesian military's chief of social and political affairs, Lt. Gen. (ret) Harsudiono Hartas.

Abilio told the retired generals that what concerned him was not his conviction and imprisonment, but the lack of justice in that he was the only one of the defendants who was sent to jail while military and police officers were acquitted.

The Supreme Court rejected his appeal and upheld the ad hoc human rights tribunal's decision to sentence him to three years for his role in gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. -- Antara

--JP