Soldiers in Liquisa killing seek acquittals

JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers representing two soldiers tried separately in connection with the deaths of six East Timorese villagers are appealing to the military tribunal to acquit their clients of the murder charges.

In his defense statement, the soldier who fired the six villages, said he was simply carrying out an order from his commanding officer. The commanding officer, in his defense, said however that without the order to kill, the soldier would have opened fire anyway given his state of mind at the time.

The two soldiers are currently being tried at the military tribunal in Denpasar, Bali, for the killing of the six East Timorese villagers on Jan. 12. The incident occurred during a military operation to go after guerrillas of the East Timor's armed separatist movement Fretilin.

According to testimony presented at the tribunal, the six men were taken prisoners by the patrol unit. They were executed with their arms tied.

On trial is Second Lieutenant Jeremias Kasse, an intelligence office who led the patrol, whom the military prosecutors accused of giving the order to eliminate the unarmed villagers; and First Private Rusdin Maumere, who is being charged with carrying out the actual killing.

The military prosecutors earlier this week demanded a six-year-and-nine-month imprisonment for Jeremias and an eight- year jail term for Rusdin. They also demanded that the tribunal ordered for the expulsion of both defendants from the military.

On Thursday, Lt. Col Cahyono and Second Lieutenant Epi Susanto, the military lawyers representing Jeremias, said that although their client uttered the word "to eliminate' in his instruction to Rusdin, the word did not necessarily mean "to kill."

They said given the state of mind of Rusdin at the time, especially after one of his colleagues had been stabbed during the operation, he would have killed the six prisoners without the order from their client. They also pointed out that their client showed remorse immediately after the killing.

In a separate hearing also on Thursday, the lawyers defending Rusdin, Major Lastra and Captain Wirawati, said their client was simply obeying order from his commanding officer in killing the six prisoners.

The defendant "did not have the authority to neglect the order," Major Lastra said.

The lawyers also appealed to the judges to consider the deep hatred Rusdin had against the rebels because his mother, father, sister and uncle were all killed by Fretilin rebels.

In their testimony, the two defendants insisted that all the six villagers were members or supporters of the Fretilin.

Rusdin's lawyers also argued that their client, a native East Timorese, never attended school and joined the military as a voluntary conscript. "It would have been too much to expect him to be able to assess the implications of the order from his superior," Major Lastra said.

The lawyers representing Jeremias also argued for acquittal because of lack of material evidence presented by the prosecutors, such as the bullets' encasing that supposedly had come from Rusdin's weapon, or the post mortem reports of the victims.

The military tribunal is expected to rule on both cases on Monday. (emb)