UNHCR raps RI for failing to punish killers of its staff

UNHCR raps RI for failing to punish killers of its staff

JAKARTA (Agencies): A senior UN refugee official rapped
Indonesian legal authorities on Monday for failing to properly
punish the "cold-blooded murder" of three of its staff.

But Soren Jessen-Petersen, Assistant United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said Jakarta, in a
"fundamental policy change," now clearly wants the return of an
estimated 80,000 East Timorese refugees from Indonesian West
Timor.

Jessen-Petersen, speaking at the end of an eight-day visit to
Jakarta, West and East Timor, said he was "very disturbed and
very distressed" that the high court had now confirmed
"ridiculously low sentences" on those convicted in connection
with the murders.

In September 2000 a mob of frenzied East Timorese militiamen
stoned, stabbed and beat to death three unarmed UNHCR workers --
an American, a Croatian and an Ethiopian -- in the border town of
Atambua in Indonesian West Timor. Their bodies were set on fire.

A Jakarta court in May found six men not guilty of their
murder and instead convicted them of inciting mob violence. It
sentenced them to jail terms of between 10 and 20 months.

Jessen-Petersen told a media conference he raised the case of
"cold-blooded murder" with Attorney General M.A. Rachman and also
the sentences, which he called a "mockery of justice."

"I was very disturbed by what I heard. The concerted
impression we got was that there was very little he could do
(about the confirmation of sentence).

"We don't agree with that. We believe it is the responsibility
of the Indonesian authorities to take this all the way, to see
that justice is done," Jessen-Petersen said, as quoted by AFP.

"The impression we got from that meeting is that it is not
happening ... so among many, many very encouraging meetings with
the authorities, there was (that) one disturbing meeting with the
attorney-general."

An estimated quarter of a million people fled or were forced
into West Timor in the wake of East Timor's overwhelming vote on
Aug. 30, 1999 for independence after 24 years of enforced
Indonesian rule.

Meanwhile, Hendardi, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid and
Human Rights Association (PBHI), also warned on Monday about the
possibility of an international court interfering with the
national court if they consider that Indonesia was not serious in
trying the suspects.

"Similar to the case of trying war criminals from the former
Yugoslavia, the international court can issue an order to arrest
prime suspects and try them outside of their country," Hendardi
told the Jakarta Post by phone from Pontianak.

Hendardi also expressed concern over the lack of transparency
in the appointment of judges and prosecutors in charge of
handling the trial.

"They should be proposed by the President and approved by the
House of Representatives (DPR)," he said.

Munir, another human rights campaigner, said that such a
prediction is unlikely to be carried out.

He said instead of intervening in the trial, foreign
countries, particularly the U.S. and European countries, are
likely to favor an ad hoc trial.

"They have their own interests regarding their bilateral
relationship with Indonesia as Indonesia is the key country in
the Southeast Asian region. Moreover the U.S. needs to maintain
their bitter-sweet relations with Indonesia to bridge their
message to other countries," Munir, former coordinator of the
Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras),
explained.

According to him, the coming ad hoc trial is just a formality
to fulfill the mounting demand to hold such a trial for East
Timor rights violators.

Indonesia is yet to be ready to conduct a true trial by trying
the main person who is considered responsible for such a crime,
saying that it would hit several aspects in the country.

"Legally, we could not dismantle the case thoroughly by
pursuing the most responsible person for the crime. Politically,
there would be resistance from people inside the country who
would be disadvantaged if the case was dismantled," Munir told
the Post later in the day. (09)