Yosfiah named suspect in murder of journalists
Yosfiah named suspect in murder of journalists
DILI, East Timor (AP): UN prosecutors said Saturday they were considering issuing arrest warrants for three men - including a former Indonesian government minister - over the slaying of five foreign journalists in East Timor more than 25 years ago.
Prosecutor-General Mohamed Othman said the world body would decide within two weeks whether to act against the suspects.
"If the killings are classified as war crimes, the UN administration can request the arrest and surrender of suspects under universal jurisdiction," he said.
According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald, investigators have already asked Othman to organize the arrest of Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah - a former information minister - another Indonesian, Christoforus da Silva, and an East Timorese, Domingos Bere.
However, officials in East Timor's capital Dili said arrest warrants have not yet been issued.
At the time of the killings, Yosfiah was an Indonesian army captain commanding an elite unit called Team Susi. The unit was involved in a covert operation to prepare for a full-scale invasion of what was then Portuguese Timor. Da Silva and Bere were members of the unit.
Reporter Malcolm Rennie, 28, and cameraman Brian Peters, 29, both British; reporter Greg Shackleton, 27, and soundman Tony Stewart, 21, both Australian; and New Zealand cameraman Gary Cunningham, 27, were killed in the border town of Balibo as the invaders attacked on Oct. 16, 1975.
At the time, the government in Jakarta claimed the journalists were caught in a firefight between Indonesian troops and East Timorese defenders. But witnesses testified that the journalists were gunned down after surrendering.
Yosfiah has vehemently denied any role in the murders. In 1998 and 1999, he served as information minister in the administration of President B.J. Habibie, who took over after the ouster of longtime dictator Soeharto.
UN police have recently completed a seven-month investigation into the Balibo killings. Several new witnesses who returned to East Timor following Indonesia's withdrawal in 1999 have also been questioned.
Othman said the accused could only be tried for war crimes, and not for murder.
"Under the statute of limitations, after 15 years in Portugal and 18 years in Indonesia, you can not prosecute for murder," he said.
Indonesian troops executed another foreign journalist, Roger East, during amphibious landings in Dili on Dec. 7, 1975. The Australian reporter was dragged out of his hotel room and shot in the back of the head on a nearby wharf.