General's lawyers to visit prosecutors

General's lawyers to visit prosecutors

JAKARTA (JP): A team of lawyers representing Indonesian
Military (TNI) generals allegedly involved in last year's
violence in East Timor is to visit the Attorney General's Office
on Tuesday to clarify the planned questioning of its clients.

"We will meet with the Deputy Attorney General for General
Crimes (A. Rahman) at 2 p.m. tomorrow to clarify the planned
questioning of our clients," the team's spokesman, Yan Juanda
Saputra, told The Jakarta Post.

Yan admitted that the official summons for the questioning had
yet to be received but said the questioning was scheduled to
start next week.

The government-sanctioned Commission of Inquiry into Human
Rights Violations (KPP HAM) in East Timor has recommended the
Attorney General's Office launch an investigation into 33
military and civilian officials, including former TNI chief Gen.
Wiranto, for their alleged involvement in the violence that
erupted after the Aug. 30 self-determination ballot.

Wiranto, who has been suspended by President Abdurrahman Wahid
from his Cabinet post as coordinating minister for political
affairs and security pending the investigation, has denied any
wrongdoing.

The Attorney General's Office said last week, without giving
any time frame, that it would form a team of investigators to
probe the violence and that the team would then name suspects to
be questioned.

Meanwhile, the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Institute (YLBHI) called on Monday for the immediate
establishment of an ad hoc tribunal on the East Timor violence to
provide legal infrastructure for the investigation.

"It is still not clear what kind of tribunal there is going to
be to try the suspects in the East Timor violence, so the
government and the House of Representatives must immediately
decide on the matter," YLBHI's deputy director Dadang Trisasongko
said in a statement.

Rights activists have said that the alleged human rights
violations in East Timor last year should not be considered
ordinary crimes.

Therefore, the trial of those who were allegedly involved in
the violence should not be held in an ordinary criminal court,
the activists said.

The bill on the human rights tribunal, which was scheduled to
be submitted to the House later this week, stipulates that the
establishment of an ad hoc tribunal should be based on a
presidential decree with the approval of the House. (byg)