Lieutenant admits giving order to kill detainess

JAKARTA (JP): An Army lieutenant admitted in court yesterday that he gave the order to eliminate six unarmed East Timorese during a military operation to pursue separatist rebels in the East Timor regency of Liquisa on January 12.

First Lieutenant Jeremias Kasse, the intelligence officer for the Liquisa military command, told a military tribunal in Denpasar, Bali, yesterday that his order "applied to all six" men who were detained by his patrol unit.

Jeremias is one of two soldiers now being tried at the Denpasar tribunal in connection with the killing of the six villagers in Liquisa, an incident that sparked international outrage and harmed Indonesia's image because of what appeared to be an official cover up.

Jeremias commanded the 30-man unit that was following the trail of a prominent local leader of Fretilin, the armed separatist group, who was believed to have been rallying support in Liquisa, a regency just outside the East Timor capital of Dili.

The other soldier separately on trial is First Private Rusdin Maumere, a member of the Army patrol unit. He has already admitted in court that he shot the six villagers, all with their hands tied, saying that he was carrying out an Jeremias' order.

Four of the villagers -- Jose Nunes, Abel Nunes, Victor, Agusto Pinto -- were arrested first by the patrol unit on suspicion of helping the Fretilin guerrillas. They were used by the Army unit in the hope that they would lead the patrol to the guerrilla's place of hiding. The other two victims -- Osorio Soares and Americo Araujo -- were in the house that was eventually raided by the unit.

Rusdin in his own trial earlier quoted Jeremias as saying, in giving the order to kill, that "If one of us is injured, eliminate them."

Lt. Col. Asmar Gutji, the military prosecutor, asked Jeremias in court yesterday to reaffirm that by the word menghabisi (to eliminate) he meant to kill, to which Jeremias said yes.

At being asked if the order to eliminate applied to all six, again Jeremias answered: "All six prisoners."

Jeremias is charged with defying orders from his commanding officer, of giving orders to kill in breach of procedures, and of making a false report to his superiors.

The military prosecutors yesterday pressed Jeremias to explain why he gave a false report and did not change his version until he was summoned to Jakarta to account for the incident.

"I was afraid that they (my superiors) would find out that I committed errors," the defendant said.

The military stuck to the version, based on the report provided by Jeremias, for some time until the case unfolded before the public about a month after the incident. The earlier version suggested that all six victims were members of Fretilin and that they were killed during an armed clash.

The baffling circumstances surrounding the incident prompted the National Commission on Human Rights to launch its own investigation.

The Army, responding to criticisms, later established an Officers Honor Council to investigate the incident. Only then did the military change its version and decided to court-martial the two officers believed guilty of the incident.

Jeremias' immediate supervisor, Lt. Col. Trys Suryawan, the chief of the Liquisa military district command, earlier testified that his order to Jeremias was very specific: That the unit must be alert against the rebels because they were possibly armed, that the unit must respond if the enemy opened fire, and that if the rebels were unarmed they should be taken alive.

It was heard at the trials of Jeremias and Rusdin that a member of the unit was stabbed during the raid, and this, apart from the condition of the unit's members, had played a part in the incident.

While Jeremias never attempted to deny in court that he committed errors in heading the operation, his military lawyers brought in a military psychologist yesterday to explain the conditions in the field that could possibly have had an adverse effect on the soldiers.

Captain C.A.J. Ngurah Suwitra, testifying for Jeremias, said that the defendant had lost control of his emotions when he gave the order to "eliminate" the six villagers.

He said that the psychological condition of the soldiers, after days of patrolling, had already deteriorated by the time they conducted the raid on the house.

When one of the soldiers was injured, the defendant was emotionally overwhelmed, said Captain Suwitra, who is a psychologist working with military members, including those stationed in East Timor.

He said there were two things that triggered Jeremias' emotional behavior that day. First, because he felt he had been lied to by the four villagers who led him to the house. The other was that a member of his unit, First Private Costodio Bareto, had been stabbed.

Testimonies from one of the victims' sister and mother, who were in the vicinity of the house at the time of the killing but spared by the military unit, were also heard at the trials.

Jacinta Alves Corea, the elder sister of Osorio, said she and her mother had just returned from their farm when they found soldiers around their house. She could not identify who killed the villagers, who she said were taken to the back of the house and shot.

The presiding judge at the tribunal, Col. M. Panjaitan, questioned the approach in raiding the house used by Jeremias which he said did not conform with any military theory.

Jeremias admitted that he had "miscalculated" and that the man they were after, Antoni Alves, escaped from the house after stabbing one of the officers.

He added that the conditions in the field were difficult.

The trial yesterday was adjourned until Monday when the military prosecutors are scheduled to read their demands. Sentencing is expected on June 19.

The other trial, of Rusdin, is also entering the last phases. (emb)