Millitary's top brass to observe ad hoc trial
Millitary's top brass to observe ad hoc trial
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
To offer moral support for soldiers on trial for crimes
against humanity in East Timor, the Indonesian Military (TNI) top
brass will appear at the Central Jakarta District Court to
observe Tuesday's hearings in the landmark tribunal.
Maj. Gen. Timor P. Manurung, the TNI's chief lawyer, said that
TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S. and Army Chief of Staff Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto would head a group of senior military
officers attending the opening of the trial.
Tried will be five defendants, four of them middle-ranking
military officers, accused in the destruction of the St. Ave
Maria church in September 1999 in Suai, where at least 26 people
died.
The officers, former Covalima regent Col. Herman Sedyono;
former Suai military commander Lt. Col. Liliek Koeshadianto; his
successor, Lt. Col. Sugito; former Suai military command chief of
staff Capt. Achmad Syamsudin, and former Suai police precinct
chief Lt. Col. Gatot Subiaktoro, face sentences from 10 years'
imprisonment to the death penalty.
Other high-ranking military officers to show up at the court
are Vice Admiral Bernard Sondakh, the TNI inspectorate general,
and Vice Marshal Cheppy Hakim, the commander of the TNI Academy.
"The presence of our TNI chief, as well as the Army chief at
the ad hoc tribunal Tuesday is merely to support our soldiers, as
they have fallen victim to people trying to corner our men,"
Timor said. "They will be there not to meddle with the trial, nor
influence the judges."
It is expected that security will be tight due to the presence
of the TNI top brass.
Tuesday's hearing will be the second after the opening session
last Thursday.
In all, 18 military and police officers and civilians are
facing charges of human rights violations that took place after
the majority of the people in the former Indonesian province,
once a Portuguese colony, opted for independence in a UN-
administered referendum in September 1999.
Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, former Udayana Military Command
overseeing Bali, Nusa Tenggara and East Timor, is the highest-
ranking military officer to stand trial, with former East Timor
governor Abilio Soares topping the list of civilian defendants.
Timor added that the TNI had released lawyer Adnan Buyung
Nasution, who decided on Monday to quit his position as
coordinator for the TNI's advocacy team for human rights
violations cases in East Timor, following mounting demands from
human rights activists.
Nasution, according to Timor, opted to stay as one of the
patrons of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute
(YLBHI).
Nasution will be replaced by three senior lawyers, Bob
Nainggolan, Muhammad Assegaf, and Hotma Sitompul.
The resignation will be announced at a press conference, also
scheduled for Tuesday.
Timor said, however, that Nasution will leave the door wide
open for the TNI to discuss the development of the trial.
The decision followed a closed-door meeting between the
advocacy team, including Nasution, some of the defendants, and
Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil at Matori's office.
Also discussed at the meeting was the question of whether the
decision to hold a self-determination ballot in East Timor came
from both the TNI and the Ministry of Defense.