Rights court set to hand down sentence
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The country's landmark human rights tribunal will announce on Wednesday its first verdict regarding crimes against humanity during, before, and after the 1999 UN-administered independence vote in East Timor.
Former East Timor governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares will be the first of the 18 people brought to trial for alleged crimes against humanity to have his fate determined.
Prosecutors have demanded a near minimum sentence of 10 and a half years jail for Abilio for failing to prevent the violence surrounding the vote for independence. The crime carries a maximum penalty of death, according to Law No. 26/2000 on Rights Tribunals.
The UN estimates that at least 1,000 East Timorese were killed during the widespread violence.
The court also plans to announce the verdict of Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen, the former East Timor police chief, on Thursday. Like Abilio, Timbul also faces 10 and a half years imprisonment.
Indonesia has come under international pressure to address human rights abuses involving the military. Most of the 18 charged are military officers. The ad hoc human rights court was initiated to avoid an international tribunal.
The violence not only tarnished the country's image but also led to an arms embargo and suspended military-to-military relations between Indonesia and the U.S. and its allies.
At home, the establishment of the rights tribunal under a Presidential Decree also drew criticism, ranging from the recruitment process of its judges to the court's failure to hear from a large number of witnesses. Only two victim have testified so far.
On top of that, the tribunal raised eyebrows for failing to bring Gen. (ret) Wiranto, the former Armed Forces chief believed to be responsible for his subordinates' crimes, to justice.
Ahead of Wednesday's verdict, East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, a former pro-independence leader, sent a letter to the presiding judge urging that "Abilio should not be singled out as the one responsible" for the 1999 mayhem.
A similar letter was sent by another pro-independence leader, Manuel Viegas Carrascalao, to judges trying Timbul's case, saying the police had taken all steps to protect the East Timorese, including him, when pro-Jakarta militia attacked his house on April, 17, 1999.
Komariah Emong, one of the judges trying Abilio's case, said the judges would take Gusmao's appeal into consideration.
While Andi Samsan Nganro, one of the judges handling Timbul's case, said that "what we (the judges) will decide has nothing to do with these letters".