UN inquiry to propose tribunal
UN inquiry to propose tribunal
JAKARTA (Agencies): An inquiry set up by the United Nations into human rights abuses in East Timor has concluded that Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel were directly involved in last year's violence, sources close to the inquiry said in New York on Saturday.
The report was commissioned by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and is due to be sent to the UN General Assembly and Security Council on Monday, AFP reported.
The sources quoted the report as saying "the intimidation, terror, destruction of property, displacement and evacuation of people would not have been possible without the active involvement of the Indonesian Army and the knowledge and approval of top military commanders."
"The United Nations should establish an international human rights tribunal consisting of judges appointed by the United Nations, preferably with the participation of members from East Timor and Indonesia," sources quoted the document as saying.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to make his official response to the commission's report in New York on Monday.
The Indonesian government-sanctioned Inquiry into Human Rights Abuses (KPP HAM) in East Timor is due to announce its findings also on Monday. Speculation was rife that it would recommend the government to prosecute several top military generals for the mayhem in East Timor which erupted in September after a UN- sponsored self-determination ballot.
"We will first hand over the report to the National Commission on Human Rights at 10 a.m. and then to the Attorney General's Office at 3 p.m.," KPP HAM secretary Asmara Nababan told The Jakarta Post by phone on Sunday.
KPP HAM chairman Albert Hasibuan said on Friday that former TNI chief Gen. Wiranto and Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, former chief of the Udayana Military Command which oversaw East Timor, were "morally responsible" for the post-ballot violence.
Albert, however, refused to confirm whether Wiranto and Adam would be among the 20 to 30 names, mostly from the military, who would be submitted to Attorney General Marzuki Darusman for further investigation.
Wiranto is currently the coordinating minister for political affairs and security.
As commission members met behind closed doors at a hotel in Jakarta to finalize their report on Sunday, TNI Commander Adm. Widodo A.S. called on KPP HAM to present a "credible" report.
On a visit to East Timor last week, the chief defense lawyer for the TNI generals, Adnan Buyung Nasution, said his clients were ready to face a human rights or war crimes tribunal.
But he said he found no evidence of military complicity in the mass destruction and killings.
In Semarang, former justice minister Muladi, who is coordinating the defense team for the senior military officers questioned by KPP HAM, threatened that the team would take legal action if the inquiry mentions names in its report on Monday.
Marzuki has said that if KKP HAM found evidence of human rights violations in East Timor, an ad hoc committee would be set up to prosecute those responsible in a national human rights tribunal.
The Indonesian commission was established in October shortly after Jakarta rejected the UN plan to launch an inquiry to look into the possibility of prosecuting those responsible for the East Timor violence on charges of crimes against humanity.
Sources close to the UN inquiry said that Indonesia has rejected the call for an international tribunal, saying it was under no legal obligation to comply with the UN inquiry, a BBC report was quoted as saying by foreign news services.
In a letter to Annan accompanying the report, Indonesian foreign minister Alwi Shihab said the report was biased and he dismissed the accusations as totally false and baseless.
Alwi also warned that setting up an international human rights tribunal would create obstacles in the promotion of friendly relations between Indonesia and East Timor.
In his own accompanying letter, Annan said it would be up to the General Assembly, Security Council and the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights to decide what further action was required, sources were quoted as saying. (44/har)