Militiaman's trial postponed

JAKARTA: The Central Jakarta District Court postponed on Monday the trial of a militiaman accused of killing a New Zealand peacekeeper in East Timor last year.

Prosecutor Samadi Budisyah said Yacobus Bere, 37, could not be brought before the court because he was being treated at Kramat Jati Hospital following prostate surgery on Oct. 19.

Judge I Nengah Suriada postponed the trial indefinitely until the defendant recovers.

Bere, a pro-Indonesia East Timorese, is accused of murdering Pvt. Leonard William Manning, 24, on July 24 last year on the border of East Timor and Indonesian West Timor.

He arrived in Jakarta last month to attend the trial. -- JP