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.