Judges for rights trial appeals appointed
Judges for rights trial appeals appointed
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Chief Justice Bagir Manan has appointed four career judges for
the ad hoc human rights tribunal to handle appeals in the cases
of alleged perpetrators of the violence and destruction in East
Timor in 1999.
Bagir said the four would be Supreme Court judges Sukirno,
Artidjo Alkostar, Margana and Arbiyoto.
"They will work together with non-career judges, who will be
appointed by the House of Representatives. I have sent a letter
to the House to speed up the selection process for non-career
judges," he told reporters after a judicial workshop here on
Thursday.
Supreme Court judge Benyamin Mangkoedilaga said the four were
appointed on Wednesday.
"We will have a total of 10 judges for the appeals court. The
other six non-career judges will be selected by the House," Bagir
said.
Under Law No. 26/2000 on human rights courts, each appeal is
to be handled by two career and three non-career judges and it
must be decided within 90 days of the appeal application.
Separately, chairman of House Commission II Teras Narang said
the House would complete the selection of six non-career judges
for the human rights appeal court by the end of next month.
State prosecutors filed an appeal to the Supreme Court in
response to the verdicts recently handed down by the tribunal
acquitting six military and police officers charged with crimes
against humanity in East Timor in 1999.
Thousands of military-backed militias went on a bloody rampage
after East Timor's population overwhelmingly voted to break away
from Indonesia in a United Nations-sponsored vote in 1999,
killing hundreds of civilians and destroying some 80 percent of
the infrastructure in the former Portuguese colony.
They also forced close to 250,000 East Timorese into West
Timor and other surrounding islands.
A total of 18 military and police personnel as well as senior
civilian authorities and militia leaders have been brought to
court, including three Army generals, seven of whom have been
acquitted, and the others are still awaiting their verdicts.
The court sentenced former East Timor governor Abilio Jose
Osorio Soares to three years in jail, well below the 10-and-a-
half-year minimum sentence.
Both Abilio and the state prosecutors have reportedly filed
their respective appeals over the verdicts.
Abilio and the security officers were initially charged with
human rights abuses after it was alleged that their subordinates
carried out systematic killing, torture, destruction and forced
relocation. However, during the trials the prosecutors and
defense attorneys have focused on the apparent inability of the
officers to stop what was claimed to be factional fighting among
Timorese groups.