Liquisa military chief testifies

Liquisa military chief testifies

DENPASAR, Bali: An East Timor military leader testified
yesterday that inadequate telecommunication equipment and rough
terrain did not enable him to control the Jan. 12 military
operation that killed six unarmed villagers.

Chief of the Liquisa military command, Lt. Col. Tris Suryawan
Adiwijaya, told a military tribunal that he was briefed on the
result of the operation after the mission was over.

"First Lt. Jermias Kasse told me that a gun fight had taken
place in which six rebels were killed and a soldier wounded,"
Tris said as quoted by Antara.

The court tried two soldiers, Kasse and First Class Private
Rusdin Maubere, on charges of disobeying their commander's (Tris
Suryawan's) order not to shoot unarmed rebels.

Kasse was the leader of the operation that involved 30
soldiers. Maubere is accused of killing the six prisoners after
seeing his colleague was wounded in the encounter. (pan)