Man gets 6 months for stoning officer

DILI: The district court here sentenced a man to six and half months in jail for assaulting a security officer last Christmas eve.

Claudino Gutteres, aged 20, was the first of 16 people to be tried for their involvement in the Dec. 24 riot. which began after thousands of well-wishers greeting Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo scuffled with security authorities.

The bishop was returning to the province after going to Oslo to collect his Nobel Peace Prize.

Prosecutor Johanes Lebe had sought one year's imprisonment for Gutteres, Antara reported.

The judges said in their verdict that Gutteres had thrown a stone at a security officer, Abdul Kadir.

Kadir spent three days in the hospital being treated for his head injury. (pan)