Military denies soldiers raped Timorese woman

DILI (JP): The military denied reports yesterday that soldiers in the Ermera district twice raped a woman detained on charges of helping separatist rebels in November.

Col. Soekotjo HS told The Jakarta Post yesterday that a "field check" found that the rape, reported by the Dili diocese's Commission for Justice and Peace, had not happened.

The commission said in a letter to Dili's Wira Dharma military command dated Dec. 28 that the 23 year-old woman was raped twice while detained for questioning on a "case which had yet to be proven".

The letter said the woman was arrested in the Atabae subdistrict. She was taken to the Ermera military office where she was beaten up and raped. She was beaten and raped again when she was moved to a military post in Luli Rema.

"We appeal to you to look into the problem with all due respect to the presumption of innocence principle... Please investigate the case properly," said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post.

Col. Soekotjo said the commission had the wrong story to tell.

What happened, he said, was the woman was picked up by the authorities to help persuade separatist rebels to come down the mountain and voluntarily surrender.

Separately, Col. Atok Ruismanto, East Timor deputy police chief, said he had received a request from the commission to investigate the report.

He said the police would refer the report to the military police because it was under their jurisdiction.

News about the alleged rape has provoked strong reaction from women activists in Jakarta.

About 20 activists from 16 non-governmental organizations urged the National Commission on Human Rights in Jakarta to investigate the report and make the results public.

They said the woman, who was illiterate, was arrested on Nov. 5 with seven of her relatives on charges of supporting rebels, and all were beaten up during the weeks of detention.

"They were treated inhumanely by the arresting soldiers who kicked and punched them before handcuffing them," Ratna, one of the activists, told the commission.

Commission member Clementino dos Reis Amaral told the activists the commission would send a fact-finding team next month to investigate the report.

The victim, according to the activists, is in the care of the Immaculada Conceicao parish in Ermera, East Timor, after a village catechist found out about the unwarranted detention and asked the post commandant in Luli Rema on Nov. 22 to release her. (33/08/pan)