Minimum sentence sought for officers

Minimum sentence sought for officers

JAKARTA: Prosecutors of ad hoc rights tribunal on Thursday
demanded the minimum 10-year jail term for one police and two
military officers charged with crimes against humanity in East
Timor in 1999.

The three men -- army Lt. Col. Asep Kuswani, police Lt. Col.
Adios Salova, and district military head Leonita Martins -- were
charged with failing to prevent pro-Jakarta militias from
attacking a church in Liquica on April 6 and killing at least 22
people.

Prosecutor Harry Ismi said the three defendants ignored
information on the attack and made no move to stop the aggression
carried out by their subordinates.

Crimes against humanity can carry a maximum penalty of the
death sentence.

Prosecutors said Thursday that they could not find enough
evidence to prove the main charge that the defendants had taken
part or had ordered their subordinates to carry out the attack.

Before, during and after the United Nations-sponsored
referendum in 1999, thousands of pro-Jakarta militias went on
bloody rampages that killed at least 1,000 innocent people.

The three are among 18 Indonesian military and police
officials held responsible for the violence. Six have already
been acquitted of all crimes. Only Abilio Jose Osorio Soares, the
last Indonesian governor of the province, was found guilty and
sentenced to three years in prison. --JP