Moeis gets five years in jail but remains free

Moeis gets five years in jail but remains free

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The ad hoc rights tribunal sentenced former East Timor military
commander Brig. Gen. Noer Moeis to five years in jail on
Wednesday for gross human rights violations in the territory in
1999, but, as usual, fell short of sending the officer to jail
immediately.

Moeis, one of the 18 military and police personnel, as well as
civilians, brought before the court over a bloody reign of terror
before, during, and after the United Nations-sponsored referendum
in East Timor in 1999, appealed the verdict.

Presiding judge Adriani Nurdin told the ad hoc rights tribunal
on Wednesday that Moeis failed to prevent attacks on the Dili
diocesan offices on Sept. 5, 1999, and the residence of Dili
bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Bello the following day. At least 13
people were killed in the two incidents.

The court also ruled that Moeis, who was a colonel at the
time, was guilty of failing to prevent an attack on a church in
Suai on Sept. 6 in which 26 people were killed.

"As the military commander, the defendant failed to prevent
his subordinates from allowing such incidents to happen, with the
result that crimes against humanity occurred," said Adriani,
reading out the verdict.

Moeis is the highest ranking military officer to be sentenced
to jail so far for the rampage that destroyed almost 90 percent
of the infrastructure in Indonesia's former 27th province, and
drove almost 250,000 East Timorese into refugee camps in
Indonesia's West Timor.

The two other military officers convicted so far are Lt. Col.
Soedjarwo, the former Dili military chief, and Adj. Sr. Comr.
Hulman Gultom, the former Dili police chief, who received five
and three years in jail respectively.

Two civilians have also been convicted by the ad hoc tribunal.
They are the former East Timor governor Abilio Soares, who got a
three-year jail sentence, and notorious militia leader Eurico
Guterres, who received 10 years in jail.

Ten other police and military officers were earlier acquitted
in widely criticized verdicts.

Prosecutors had demanded a 10-year jail term for Moeis -- the
minimum sentence under Indonesia's human rights law -- for the
offense, which carries a maximum penalty of death.

"We must prioritize justice. Ten years is not in line with the
sense of justice of the judges," Adriani said.

Moeis, who looked calm during the trial, complained that the
verdict was not in line with the testimony given by witnesses
during the trial.

"I reject the verdict and since I have the right, I will
appeal," said Moeis, who is now the deputy head of the national
military academy.

The human rights tribunal is still hearing two other cases,
the prosecutions against another former East Timor military
commander, Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman, and Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri,
the former chief Bali-based Udayana military command overseeing
Bali, Nusa Tenggara and East Timor.

The United Nations estimated that some 1,000 people were
killed in the run-up to, during and after the UN-sponsored
independence vote in East Timor in 1999, in which the majority of
East Timorese voted to secede from Indonesia after the territory
had been occupied by its giant neighbor for more than two
decades.