Legislator to sue Portugal

Legislator to sue Portugal

DILI, East Timor: A local legislator is considering bringing
the Portuguese government to the International Court of Justice
for allegedly killing about 1,000 people during its 450 years of
colonial administration in the territory.

Speaker of the East Timorese provincial legislative council
Antonio Freitas Parada said Saturday he has asked a law firm
based in the Hague to study his plan.

Portugal abruptly left East Timor in 1975, prompting a civil
war which lasted until Indonesia intervened and the territory was
integrated in 1976.

Member of the provincial legislative council Manuel Viegas
Carrascalao told The Jakarta Post that the lawyer has recently
visited Parada to get the data that would be required to file the
lawsuit.

According to the data collected by the local government, the
church and non-government organizations, the Portuguese
colonial administration murdered about 1,000 people in Viqueque
regency and Atauro Island in the course of its rule. (yac/imn)