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