Generals' lawyers denied entry to E. Timor

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)