Police question Xanana over bomb making
JAKARTA (JP): Police questioned yesterday jailed East Timorese separatist leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao over alleged links with a bomb making operation, his lawyers said.
Four police interrogators and four lawyers representing Xanana from the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), spent most of yesterday with the jailed rebel at the Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta.
Police declined to talk to reporters.
Lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan said police questioned Xanana only as a witness and there was no indication he would face charges. He said Xanana was in good health and good spirits, and had prepared snacks and coffee for his interrogators.
Lawyer Hendardi said the questioning was completed yesterday.
Xanana is currently serving a reduced 20-year jail sentence in Cipinang Prison. He was arrested in Dili, East Timor, in 1992, after heading the Fretilin separatist movement in its armed campaign for a separate state.
Recently, the Armed Forces (ABRI) linked Xanana with an East Timorese group that it said had planned to blow up civilian targets with homemade bombs in their separatist movement against the government.
The alleged operation was uncovered after a blast damaged a house, thought to be a makeshift bomb factory, in Demak, Central Java, on Sept. 13.
Hendardi quoted Xanana's statement in the official report of the questioning as follows: "Accusations of terrorism were not true at all, we never intended to use the bombs to civilian targets.
"The bombs were made to strengthen our resistance toward the Armed Forces and I will take full responsibility for their activities."
Implicated in the case are seven East Timorese who were arrested recently and Avelino Marie Coelho da Silva and Nuno Vicente Pereira Saldanha, who are seeking asylum at the Austrian Embassy in Jakarta.
Avelino and Nuno, who lived in the house in Demak, sought political asylum with four others six days later at the Austrian Embassy in Jakarta.
Avelino was accompanied by his wife Sabina, of Kalimantan, and his two small children, identified as Adel Sea Maria Coelho da Silva and Didina Maria Coelho da Silva. Another youth following them to the embassy was identified as Costodio de Yesus Belo.
They remain in the embassy despite demands by the Indonesian government that Austria hand over the couple so they can face terrorism charges.
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as Indonesia's 27th province in 1976, but the United Nations still regards Lisbon as the administrative authority of the province.
Xanana's questioning coincided with President Soeharto's departure yesterday on an overseas trip which incorporates South Africa where he is scheduled to hold talks with President Nelson Mandela.
Mandela made a state visit to Indonesia in July and had an unprecedented meeting with Xanana after gaining President Soeharto's permission.
Later, Mandela wrote to Soeharto asking that Xanana be released as part of an attempt to find a peaceful solution to East Timor's problems.
Indonesia regards Xanana as a criminal and turned down the request. (10)