Generals' lawyers denied entry to E. Timor

JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers representing Indonesian Military (TNI) generals who are to be questioned over suspected rights abuses in East Timor, were denied entry to the territory on Friday and have been told by UN officials to try again next week.

"We understand that it was immediate entry they were seeking," director of the human rights division of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) Sidney Jones said.

"We further understand they wanted to come this morning at 11 o'clock," Jones was quoted by AFP as saying from the East Timor capital of Dili.

The 12-member delegation, led by prominent lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution and accompanied by 17 journalists, was told to come back next week, said Refik Hodzic of UNTAET.

Jones said the lawyers' request to visit East Timor comes just days before the Indonesian government-sanctioned commission of inquiry (KPP HAM) is expected to subpoena former TNI commander, Gen. Wiranto.

However, Jones said that Jose Ramos-Horta, vice-president of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), and Taur Matan Ruak, deputy commander of the Falintil proindependence group, have both already declined to meet the delegation.

The lawyers have also expressed an interest in meeting CNRT president Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, Jones said.

She said an organization that helped arrange interviews for other visiting inquiry teams "could not think of a single East Timorese who would want to meet this delegation." Jones would not name the organization.

The lawyers' visit would create "some interesting security challenges," said Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove, commander of the International Force in East Timor (Interfet).

"They're going to be inquiring into an area where there are plainly great sensitivities. They'll be asking questions which go to allegations of crimes against humanity and they'll be asking in an environment or a community where there is much angst and much suffering, and probably a great deal of resentment," Cosgrove was quoted as saying.

Jones also said that for logistical reasons UNTAET could only help six members of the Indonesian delegation -- the same number it helped from KPP HAM.

The Commission for the Investigation of Human Rights Abuses in East Timor in an interim report late last month said it had found indications that TNI members were involved in or had prior knowledge about the campaign of terror and destruction that devastated East Timor after the Aug. 30 self-determination ballot.

Top military officers -- Wiranto, former TNI Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, former East Timor Military commanders Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, Maj. Gen. Tono Suratman and former ministry of defense expert staff member Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin -- have banded together and hired the skills of some of the country's top defense lawyers.

The legal team representing them includes big-name lawyers such as Adnan Buyung Nasution, Ruhut Sitompul, Hotma Sitoempoel, M. Assegaf and Hartono Mardjono.

Separately, the delegation's spokesman Ruhut Sitompul alleged that UN officials had refused them permission to enter on grounds that witnesses and victims of abuse did not want to meet with them.

Ruhut said he regretted the decision not to allow them entry.

Meanwhile, legal expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo denied Ruhut's claim earlier this week that she was among the lawyers in the defense team.

She said that former justice minister Muladi and Nasution had asked her to join but she refused.

Muladi is reportedly the coordinator of the defense team.

Later in the day, a group East Timorese refugees handed over 33 firearms to authorities in East Nusa Tenggara.

In a ceremony held in Atambua, the group handed over the weapons to the commander of the local battalion of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad).

"We do not want further bloodshed because of the weapons," Remexio Lopes da Carvalho, the group's representative, said.

Maj. Erit Heryadi, who accepted the firearms, said that the weapons' surrender was "proof of the trust of the people towards TNI in assuring security."

The handover followed a call by militia commander Joao da Silva Tavares on Monday when he officially disbanded an umbrella organization for pro-Indonesian militias. (byg/anr)