Police arrest prointegration leader Eurico

Police arrest prointegration leader Eurico

JAKARTA (JP): Police officers arrested on Wednesday
prointegration militia leader Eurico Guterres at a hotel in
Central Jakarta for allegedly hampering ongoing police weapons
sweeping operations in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara.

National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said the police
had obtained enough evidence to apprehend Eurico from witnesses'
testimonies and from photographs and videotapes. The evidence
apparently indicates that he gave the order for the repossession
of arms surrendered by the militia in Atambua last month.

"Witnesses have testified that he (Eurico) said to his men:
'Take back the weapons'," he told journalists after a meeting
with members of the National Commission on Human Rights.

Bimantoro said Eurico would be charged under Article 160 of
the Criminal Code for instigating a crime. The article carries a
maximum sentence of six years imprisonment.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said Eurico had
been arrested to facilitate the police investigation into the
incident, which took place during Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's visit to the region on Sept. 24.

"However, he is still expected to appear for questioning at
the Attorney General's Office on Friday as a suspect in human
rights abuses in East Timor last year," he said at his office.

Separately, newly installed National Police spokesman Brig.
Gen. Saleh Saaf said at least 15 firearms, consisting of standard
military rifles and homemade weapons, had been stolen from the
police headquarters in Atambua upon Eurico's instructions.

Security forces have confiscated 89 military standard rifles,
1,111 homemade guns, 38 units of explosive materials, 5,002
bullets of various types, 28 gun magazines and 12 grenade
launchers since Sept. 24, Saleh said.

Eurico was earlier named a suspect by the Attorney General's
Office for his alleged involvement in an attack on
proindependence leader Manuel Carrascalao's house in Dili in
April last year in which at least 12 East Timorese were killed.

Eurico's lawyer Suhardi Sumomoeljono claimed that the police
had arrested his client without a warrant.

"Eurico said he was asked by the police only to appear at the
National Police Headquarters to talk about a matter which was of
national importance," Suhardi told reporters at the police
headquarters after seeing his client.

"But it turned out that he was detained by the police," he
said.

Suhardi's claim, however, was dismissed by Saleh, who said the
police had a warrant for Eurico's arrest.

In a related development, Saleh hinted that the police had
arrested two men in connection with the killing of three UN aid
workers on Sept. 6 in Atambua.

The two, identified as Julius Naesana and Sisto Pareira, were
arrested on Monday following a tip-off. Four more suspects are
still at large.

Political analyst and vice director of the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Johannes Kristiadi
believes that Eurico's arrest would not provoke unrest.

"I doubt that his arrest will trigger further unrest or revolt
by his followers, but the main source of the problem here is the
thousands of frustrated refugees in West Timor.

"The refugees can be easily manipulated and led into conflict
by provocateurs, as they are hungry, tired and poor," Kristiadi
said after a seminar on the military here on Wednesday.

Separately, former Army Special Force (Kopassus) chief Lt.
Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto dismissed the allegations that he was
seen dining with Eurico in the West Nusa Tenggara capital of
Kupang last July, suggesting continued military collusion with
the militia.

"I have never had dinner with Guterres in Kupang ... I have
never even met Guterres personally," Prabowo said in a letter
dated Sept. 24 to the Far Eastern Economic Review.

Prabowo was referring to an article, titled Jakarta's Shame,
which appeared in the Sept. 21, 2000 edition of the magazine. The
magazine quoted western intelligence agents who claimed to have
seen Prabowo in Kupang three times this year, most recently on
Aug. 31. (bby/jaw/edt)