Generals grilled over East Timor
Generals grilled over East Timor
JAKARTA (JP): The Attorney General's Office kicked off on
Monday their official investigation into last year's violence in
East Timor by questioning several Indonesian Military (TNI)
officers.
Former East Timor military commander Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman
was grilled for more than six hours while his immediate superior,
former Udayana Military commander Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri,
Tono's successor Col. Noer Muis and former East Timor Police
chief Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen were all quizzed for more than
eight hours.
Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes M. Rahman, who
leads a 64-member investigation team, said former East Timor
governor Jose Abilio Osorio Soares was also scheduled to be
questioned but he failed to appear.
Rahman said Tono will again be questioned on Tuesday while
Adam, Muis and Timbul will face another round of questioning on
Thursday.
"At this stage, they are still being questioned as witnesses.
We should wait for further developments because the investigators
still need to go to Kupang, Atambua and East Timor to meet other
witnesses and gather more evidence," Rahman said.
Rahman said the five were among the 21 military officers and
civilian officials on the list of people to face questioning over
the East Timor debacle.
They would be summoned in groups of five people.
He added that the status of each person would be decided after
the team of investigators return from East Timor.
Rahman refused, however, to disclose the date of the visit.
"We already have the schedule. But if I disclose it to you
right now, I am afraid that the witnesses on the ground will
flee," Rahman said.
Rahman would not confirm if former TNI chief Gen. (ret)
Wiranto was among those who would be questioned.
"We will announce that later," Rahman said.
Earlier this year, the government-sanctioned Commission of
Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor
implicated Wiranto and 32 other military and civilian officers in
the violence that erupted after the Aug. 30 ballot in the former
Indonesian province. The ballot itself resulted in an
overwhelming victory for the independence movement.
Wiranto, who has been suspended as coordinating minister for
political affairs and security by President Abdurrahman Wahid
pending the investigation, has denied any wrongdoing.
The team will have three months to report its findings, with
the possibility of further three-month extensions.
The findings will become the basis of the Attorney General's
Office decision to pursue or drop the charges against the alleged
rights abusers.
The investigation team comprises 38 officials from the
Attorney General's Office, 10 from the Military Police, six
officers from the National Police and 10 officials from the home
affairs ministry.
Another 15-member team of experts has been appointed to
consult and review the work of the investigation.
Initially, the investigation will focus on five cases which
will be considered for prosecution.
They are: an April 17 attack on proindependence leader Manuel
Carrascalao's house in Dili which left at least 12 people dead;
the Sept. 6 attack on the home of Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe
Ximenes Belo; a refugee massacre in a church in Liquica in April;
a massacre in a church in Suai in September where at least 26
people died; and the shooting of Financial Times correspondent
Sander Thoenes in the East Dili area of Becora on Sept.
21.(01/byg)