No escort, no trial

No escort, no trial

DILI, East Timor: The district court here has postponed the
trial of five youths charged with organizing illegal meetings
because no security personnel was available to escort the
defendants yesterday from the detention house.

The trial of the youths, aged between 25 and 36, was
rescheduled to open today, Antara reported.

A court official, Hamzah, said that the police officers who
usually escort detainees from the detention house in Becora to
the district court were celebrating the police force's 50th
anniversary.

In a trial last year, the prosecutor said the defendants had
organized an illegal meeting in order to form a plan seeking an
independent East Timor and to sow hatred against the Indonesian
government. (pan)