Lawyers probe legality of rights trials
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Defense lawyers for two men accused of committing human rights atrocities in East Timor in 1999 challenged the legality of the ongoing trials against them on Thursday, arguing that the country's legal code does not recognize retroactive principles.
They also insisted that Law No. 26/2000, which serves as the legal basis for the human rights trial, did not specifically mention East Timor as falling under the court's jurisdiction.
"Indonesian law does not recognize retroactive principles," said lawyer Otto Cornelius Kaligis, one of 12 attorneys at the Central Jakarta Human Rights Court defending former East Timor Governor Abilio Soares.
"The Human Rights Law very much runs against the constitution concerning the principle of retroactivity. It is very clear in the constitution that the principle of retroactivity cannot be applied to anyone over anything," another lawyer, Juan Felix Tampubolon, said.
Kaligis said that the defense team would demand a review by the People's Consultative Assembly and by the Supreme Court of Law No. 26/2000, charging that the trials were "full of political content and influence from overseas."
Abilio and former East Timor police chief Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen appeared in court for the second time on Thursday on charges that they committed human rights violations in East Timor before, during and after the UN-organized referendum in 1999 in which most East Timorese voted to break away from Indonesia.
Thursday's trial was presided over by Judge Andi Samsan Nganro.
Outside the court, about 100 members of the Indonesian Defender Front (FPBI) protested what they called foreign interference in justice, and voiced support for the Indonesian military and police actions in East Timor.
The protesters burned a mock ballot box to show opposition to the territory's UN-sponsored vote which took place in August 1999.
"Serious war crime? It's crazy, Mr. Annan!" read one placard in reference to UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.
"My client is charged with something that was done by someone else. In the such a criminal case, the perpetrator must be responsible over their own act," Kaligis told the court.
The defense team also said Abilio should not be held accountable for his subordinates' actions, since district heads were chosen by the local parliament.
Abilio, 54, is charged with responsibility for violations by the civilian heads of the Liquicia and Covalima districts, Leonito Martins and Herman Sedyono.
Prosecutors, however, asked on Thursday that the panel judges continue the trial and accept the indictment, saying that objections by the defense lawyers have no legal basis.
"We ask the judges to ignore the objections of the defense lawyers which earlier said that he could not be charged before the court," prosecutor James Pardede told the court.
The court was then adjourned until March 28.
After the trial, Abilio expressed disappointment, saying that he felt the Indonesian government has abandoned him despite the national policy to hold the 1999 vote in East Timor.
"The government left its problems with me ... I can't do anything to help myself, except to undergo the legal process," Abilio said.
Prosecutors in Silaen's trial at the same court rejected similar arguments raised last week by his lawyers. They said that the jurisdiction cited by defense lawyers referred only to a permanent human rights court, and not an "ad hoc" one, like the current hearing.
Militiamen allegedly organized by senior Jakarta officials waged a campaign of intimidation and harassment before East Timor's vote to split from Indonesia. After the vote, a scorched earth campaign ensued as a form of revenge.
Hundreds of people died as a result, while entire towns were burned to the ground. More than 250,000 people, meanwhile, were moved into Indonesian-ruled West Timor after the vote.
Jakarta has come under strong international pressure to punish those responsible, but international rights groups are skeptical that the rights court will deliver true justice.
Top officers of the powerful military packed the court in a show of support for defendants as five middle-ranking Indonesian officers went on trial Tuesday.