'I'm no heartless monster,' says ex-Timor militia chief

'I'm no heartless monster,' says ex-Timor militia chief

A former militia chief on Thursday denied he had committed
human rights abuses in East Timor three years ago and said he was
a victim of the Indonesian government's desire to appease
international criticism.

Reading out a lengthy defense plea at the Central Jakarta
human rights court here, Eurico Guterres said he could not be
held responsible for an attack at the home of an East Timorese
independence leader because he was not in control of the frenzied
crowd.

The militia attack on April 17, 1999, at the home of Manuel
Carrascalao left 12 people dead including Carrascalao's son.

The raid followed a mass rally by militiamen outside the
governor's office at which Eurico delivered an allegedly
inflammatory speech.

According to court documents, Eurico urged his militiamen to
kill all independence supporters.

But an impassioned Eurico told the court: "I'm not a monster
who has no heart.

"I never ordered, directed or assisted people to injure or
kill other people," he said, adding that he did not witness the
attack and did not know who did it.

Eurico, 28, said his trial was politically motivated.

"This political trial is just a formality and in the end I
will be punished," he said. "The reality I'm facing now is
extremely ironic and painful.

"It's like I'm being dumped because I'm not useful anymore."

Earlier Eurico' lawyers also read a separate defense plea, in
which they described his trial as "a political conspiracy."

"Does Eurico not have any human rights that he has to be
sacrificed?" chief lawyer Suhardi Sumomulyono asked the court.

"It is a shame that such a big country as ours could bow to
pressure," he said.

Eurico is charged with failure to stop his subordinates
attacking Carrascalao's home. The charges carry a maximum
sentence of death, but prosecutors have asked for a 10-year
sentence.

Pro-Jakarta militias, armed and organized by the Indonesian
military, waged a brutal campaign of terror in which tens of
innocent people were killed before and after East Timor's vote on
Aug. 30, 1999, to break away from Indonesia.

Eurico said he was not officially in command of pro-Jakarta
militiamen.

He said the militiamen were not recruited but banded together
because they were bound by the same goal of defending East
Timor's integration with Indonesia.

Eurico accused the media of distorting facts about the
violence in East Timor by mainly blaming the militia and of
supporting an "imperialist conspiracy" to separate the territory
from Indonesia.

A total of 18 people have been tried or are still on trial in
Indonesia's human rights court for alleged gross human rights
violations in East Timor in 1999.

In widely criticized verdicts, the human rights court has
already acquitted six officer, including the former East Timor
police chief, and sentenced the former provincial governor to
just three years in jail.

Eurico's trial resumes next Thursday. -- AFP