Key witness testifies on 1999 East Timor violence

Key witness testifies on 1999 East Timor violence

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The first eyewitness testified on Tuesday during the trial of
five suspected human rights violators believed to have been
responsible for the deaths of civilians in Suai town, East Timor,
following the September 1999 independence referendum.

East Timor citizen Dominggas dos Santos Mouzinho testified in
broken Indonesian instead of the local Tetun language after the
panel of ad hoc judges decided that the housewife was able to
speak Indonesian fluently without the help of the interpreter who
had been provided by the UN Mission of Support in East Timor
(UNMISET).

However, she apparently had difficulty understanding and
replying to the questions posed by the judges, the prosecutors
and the defense lawyers during the non-stop four-hour hearing,
which took place in the building that houses the Central Jakarta
District Court.

The 44-year-old housewife and her three children were among
the 150 civilians who took refuge in the St. Ave Maria Church in
Suai, Covalima regency, on Sept. 5 after the Laksaur and Mahidi
pro-Jakarta militias burned their house down. Her husband ran off
to hide in the mountains.

Mouzinho told the tribunal in her broken Indonesian that she
witnessed the militia groups break into the church compound on
Sept. 6. The militiamen then entered the dining room where
civilians were sheltering.

She testified that she had seen militia member Olivio Cato
slay Fransisco Soares, one of the three Catholic priests who were
among the 27 killed in the attack, as she was being dragged out
by militiamen, and that many police and military personnel were
inside and around the church compound at the time but did
nothing.

"Many. Many military, many police. (They) just stand still,"
she said.

Mouzinho added that she saw two of the defendants, regent Col.
Herman Sedyono and military commander Lt. Col. Sugito, both of
whom were armed, at separate places inside the compound. She also
saw them talking to the militiamen. She stood by her testimony
even though the two defendants rejected her account.

The defendants face charges of neglecting their duty by not
trying to prevent the attack.

Mouzinho also told the court that the militia groups kept
terrorizing the civilians who were sheltering inside Suai
military headquarters. Her daughter was woken up by them at 2 a.m
and returned one hour later, claiming that she had been raped.

Mouzinho flew back to East Timor Tuesday but will return to
Jakarta on Wednesday with two fellow citizens to testify in two
other hearings on Thursday in relation to the alleged crimes
against humanity committed in the lead up to and following the
popular ballot.