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)