Rights defendant backs commission

Rights defendant backs commission

The People's Consultative Assembly's Annual Session, which has
been underway for seven days, has drawn quite a lot of attention
from the public, including Eurico Guterres.

Clad in black and with his curly hair mane-like as usual,
Eurico entered the MPR compound on Wednesday, then walked briskly
across the Nusantara V building. Soon he was surrounded by
reporters, drawing attention away from other visitors to the
Annual Assembly.

Eurico is a former commander of a pro-Jakarta militia group in
East Timor, and is currently facing human rights abuse charges in
the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for his alleged involvement in the
East Timor rampage in the aftermath of that country's
independence referendum in 1999.

But, apparently, he did not come to appeal to legislators for
his exoneration from the charges. Instead, he talked about this
week's hot topic: the much-debated amendments to the 1945
Constitution.

"I don't agree with a transitional constitution. Just set up a
constitutional commission," Eurico said, while several reporters
were seen taping his statement.

He added that the country needed a good constitution to lift
it out of the current crisis.

Since this is a democratic country, everybody can voice their
opinions, Eurico added. --JP