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Catechist shot dead in Uatolari

Source
Tapol - December 3, 1998

According to a report received today from the Peace and Justice Commission in Dili, a religious teacher named Francisco Carvalho was shot dead by two unidentified men as he was teaching at a school in Uatolari, Viqueque.

The two men entered the school and threatened a Nun and several members of the teaching staff. As one of the men approached Carvalho, they yelled, 'You will die today'. He opened fire and wounded the man in the stomach, chest and head. He died almost immediately.

Seven empty cartridges were later found at the scene of the crime, six of which have been handed over to the police. The priest still has one of the cartridges in his possession.

The shooting occured at 8am on 2 December but it was not until three hours later, at 11am, that soldiers from the local Koramil started to hunt for the assassins.

The Commission also reports that two members of the SAKA para-military team delivered threats against a group of people in Baguia Baucau district, who were involved in a cock-fight at a local market. They fired shots in the air, shouting, 'You are all GPK (terrorists)and should be killed'.

Later the same day, 2 December, members of the SAKA team drove in a truck in the direction of Baguia warning that people would be killed. In both cases, the weapons used were M-16s.

Meanwhile, members of SAKA carried out moves in Quelicai sub-district intimidating the local community for several consecutive nights. All these activities have spread fear among the local population who reported their anxieties of the Baucau branch of the Peace and Justice Commission.

The Commission has called for the men responsible for the murder and the other acts of intimidation to be brought to justice in accordance with the laws in force. It also called on the Indonesian armed forces and on FALINTIL to exercise restraint to prevent the situation in Alas recently from occurring in other parts of East Timor.

Tapol adds that reports from East Timor suggest that many more para-militaries have been armed in the recent period, according to one report, as many as 800 men. The forces of occupation appear to be whipping up tensions in East Timor by using the para-militaries to kill and intimidate the population.

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