Suspects in UNHCR attack and Eurico to be tried

Suspects in UNHCR attack and Eurico to be tried

JAKARTA (JP): Six suspects in the September mob attack on the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Atambua, East
Nusa Tenggara, and prointegration militia leader Eurico Guterres
will soon be tried, according to an official.

The spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Muljohardjo,
said on Wednesday prosecutors in East Nusa Tenggara had submitted
to the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office two dossiers on the mob
attack, and another one on Eurico, who will be charged with
instigating a crime.

"The state prosecutors received the dossiers on Wednesday and
will soon file the cases with the North Jakarta District Court.
The six suspects have been detained at Salemba prison in Central
Jakarta since Tuesday evening," Muljohardjo said during a media
conference.

Three of the suspects -- Xisto Pareira, Serapim Jimenez and
Joao Markin -- will be charged with violating Article 170 of the
Criminal Code. The article carries a maximum punishment of 12
years imprisonment.

The three other suspects -- Julius Naesama, Jose Fransisco and
Joao Alves da Cruis -- will also be charged under Article 170, as
well as Article 351, Paragraph 3 for assault, which carries a
maximum punishment of seven years in jail.

Julius, Jose and Joao also will be charged with violating
Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on the possession of firearms.

Eurico, who is currently being detained at a house in the
Jakarta Police Headquarters compound, will be charged with
violations of Article 160 of the Criminal Code for instigating a
crime against the government, and Article 214 for a forceful and
belligerent act.

Guterres allegedly ordered his followers to take back weapons
they had handed over to the police.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said on Wednesday the trials
would be held in Jakarta rather than Atambua because of security
concerns.

"We need to ensure nothing disrupts these trials," he said
after installing Bachtiar Fachri Nasution as the new deputy
attorney for special crimes. Bachtiar replaces Ramelan, who was
moved to the office's expert staff.

The six East Timorese militia members were transported by East
Nusa Tenggara provincial authorities to Jakarta aboard a
commercial flight on Tuesday, accompanied by personnel from the
provincial police and prosecutor's office.

They were taken directly to Salemba prison upon their arrival
in Jakarta at about 6:30 p.m.

On Sept. 6, a mob attacked the UN humanitarian aid office,
located about 25 kilometers from the border with East Timor,
killing three of the agency's workers.

The incident was believed to have been triggered by the death
of Olivio Mendoza Moruk, a former militia leader, a day earlier.
Moruk was one of 23 suspects named by the Attorney General's
Office for human rights violations in East Timor last year.

The UN Security Council responded to the incident by issuing a
resolution calling on Jakarta to disarm and disband the militias
in West Timor, and to bring those responsible for the attack to
justice.

A delegation of the UN Security Council recently visited East
Nusa Tenggara, which is now sheltering some 120,000 East Timorese
refugees who fled the territory soon after the self-determination
referendum there, whose results favored the proindependence camp.
(02/bby)