Human rights court won't try past atrocities

JAKARTA (JP): The government is working to establish a human rights court, but it will not be able to bring alleged perpetrators of past atrocities to justice, Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Tuesday.

Yusril's remark handed a big blow to human rights activists, who have aired suspicion on the fairness and capability of either civil or military courts to prosecute people who allegedly committed crimes against humanity in Aceh and East Timor. The rights activists said military tribunals had so far been used as a means to protect the military as an institution.

"The human rights court cannot be intended to try past cases, but only violations occurring after the court comes into existence," Yusril said, referring to a common practice which rules that a law cannot cover a period before its enactment.

Yusril was speaking on the sidelines of a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission II on law and home affairs. He told the House the government would seek later this week the House's approval to the government regulation in lieu of Law No. 1/1999, which will demand the establishment of a special court to try human right abuses.

Yusril disputed human rights groups' insistence on the need for a human rights tribunal to prosecute gross violations in Aceh and East Timor.

"If the public does not trust either civil and military courts any more, then what is the solution?" Yusril asked.

"Whether you like it or not, you have to follow prevailing procedures. Military members will be tried by military tribunal, and civilians will be tried in civil courts over their alleged human rights abuses."

He said that in the future both military personnel and civilians accused of human rights violations could be sent to a human rights court.

The previous government proposed the regulation in lieu of law last month in response to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights' pressure to bring perpetrators of violence in East Timor in the aftermath of the Aug. 30 self-determination ballot there to the international court.

Yusril said he expected the House would reject the government regulation in lieu of law, in order to allow the present government to propose a bill on a human rights court.

"The draft law, which has been completed, will serve as a revision of the government regulation," he said.

Apart from the human rights court, the bill also demands the establishment of a Commission of Truth to gather evidence of past atrocities.

Judges

During the hearing presided over by Amin Arjoso of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction, Yusril also said the ministry would complete the transfer of administrative authority over judges from his ministry to the Supreme Court in two years.

"The process is underway in cooperation with the Supreme Court. It will take us two years to finish it," he said, adding that the 1985 Law on the Supreme Court would be amended due to the new authority.

He suggested the need for an independent commission to control judges when his ministry completed the transfer of authority to the Supreme Court.

He said a number of directorate generals, including those dealing with intellectual property and patent rights and national law and legal affairs, would also gradually be transferred to the Supreme Court.

"Our ministry will in turn serve as a 'law center', which will conduct research, documentation and the making of laws," he said.

His ministry also plans to draw up 30 draft bills and 10 government regulations in the coming financial year, including draft laws on money laundering, bankruptcy, immigration, insurance, international convention on economic, social and cultural rights, and international convention on civil and political rights. (02)