'Militiaman' could face death

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An East Timorese pro-integration militiaman was indicted on Wednesday at the Central Jakarta District Court and could face the death penalty for the murder of a New Zealand peacekeeper in East Timor last year.

Prosecutor Muhammad Syafei told the court that the defendant, Yacobus Bere, 37, along with five other men, killed Pvt. Leonard William Manning, 24, on July 24 last year while the victim was serving with the International Peacekeeping Force in East Timor, which was led by Australia.

"After shooting the victim, the defendant took a sword brandished by one of his accomplices and approached him to make sure that he was dead," Syafei read from the indictment statement.

Witnesses reported that Bere also took Manning's Minimi firearm and a bag containing ammunition, Syafei said.

Syafei indicted Bere for violating Article 340 of the Criminal Code on premeditated murder, which carries a maximum punishment of the death penalty or life imprisonment.

The murder took place in the East Timor city of Suai, some two kilometers away from the border with Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, where private Manning and other New Zealand troops were tracking the whereabouts of armed militia fighters.

Bere surrendered to Kupang police on Jan. 15 after a six-month police manhunt. He was flown to Jakarta for trial last month.

The trial was due to start on Oct. 22 but was postponed because Bere had prostate surgery at a police hospital in East Jakarta.

One of the other five militiamen has died, two others remain at large, while the remaining two -- Yohanes Taek and Gabriel Halenori -- are still being detained at police headquarters in Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara.

Presiding judge I Nengah Suriada adjourned the hearing until Nov. 13, when the defense plea will be heard.

East Timorese Bere, who wore a red-and-white Indonesian flag around his neck, told reporters outside the court that he and his friends killed private Manning to defend Indonesia.

"I don't mind being tried or sentenced but I have done my duty to defend the red-and-white," Bere said.

Pro-integration militia groups ravaged East Timor after the 1999 referendum was overwhelmingly won by the pro-independence voters. The armed militia members fled the territory to neighboring East Nusa Tenggara shortly after the International Peacekeeping Force arrived.