'TNI washes hands' of rights abuses in E. Timor

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Suspicions that the Indonesian Military (TNI) has used the ongoing human rights trial to wash its hands of human rights violations in East Timor became apparent on Wednesday.

Witnesses testifying in the trial of former East Timor governor Abilio Soares told the Central Jakarta Human Rights Court that the governor had instructed regents in East Timor to form People's Volunteer Guards (Pamswakarsa), popularly known as militias, which carried out a bloody terror campaign in the territory in 1999.

Former Covalima regent Col. Herman Sedyono told the Central Jakarta Human Rights Court on Wednesday that the militia groups were set up in anticipation of escalating tension between proindependence and prointegration groups.

"The governor instructed all 13 regents to publicize the ballot and urged us to establish the People's Volunteer Guards," Herman told the court.

Abilio is charged with crimes against humanity, including genocide, for failing to prevent violence in East Timor in 1999. The charge carries a maximum sentence of death.

Earlier, Adam Damiri, former chief of the Udayana Military Command, which oversees Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and the former East Timor, told the same court that Abilio was responsible for establishing militia groups in East Timor.

Their claims contradicted the belief that military personnel were actively setting up and giving military training to militia members in the run-up to the UN-organized referendum in East Timor in 1999, in which East Timorese overwhelmingly voted to break away from Indonesia.

Backed by certain elements in the military, the militias embarked on a bloody terror campaign before and after the ballot, killing dozens of proindependence supporters, and destroying almost 90 percent of the infrastructure in the former Portuguese territory, as well as forcing over 200,000 East Timorese into makeshift refugee camps in West Timor.

Another military witness said on Wednesday that they had lost contact with the defendant during the chaotic days after the announcement of the 1999 popular ballot.

Former chief of the Wiradharma Military Command Brig. Gen. A. Noer Muis testified that the governor's office had been emptied, along with other offices of government institutions, while lines of communication were cut off.

"Moreover, there was no line of command between the governor and the chief of the military command," he said.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday to hear the testimony of Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman, Muis' predecessor.