Jakarta – A military court on Tuesday handed jail sentences to 11 members of Indonesia's elite special Kopassus force found guilty of kidnapping nine pro-democracy activists in a trial sharply criticised by human rights activists.

Judge Lieutenant Colonel Susanto found the 11 guilty as charged of kidnapping the activists during the last months of president Suharto's rule, before he resigned in May 1998.

Susanto sentenced the defendants to between a year and 22 months in prison less time served. Most of the defendants have been detained since mid-July, 1998.

"The defendants had conspired to deprive nine people of their rights ... by picking them up. The way they picked them up was by kidnapping and detaining them. That action was not within their authority," Susanto said.

During the court martial, derided by human rights activists as a "farce" and a "face-saving exercise" by the military to protect senior officers, the prosecution had asked for sentences of between 15 and 26 months.

Susanto handed the most senior officer charged, Major Bambang Kristiono, a 22-month sentence and fired him from the military. Four captains were also sentenced dismissed and the rest, including three captains, were sentenced but allowed to stay in the military.

Kristiono and all the captains immediately said they would appeal while the others said they wanted time to think it over. "I highly respect the judge's decision, however with the additional verdict [of dismissal] ... we, some of Kopassus' finest officers, have to appeal," said Kristiono, speaking on behalf of those dismissed.

One of the victims, Pius Lustrilanang, said the trial was disappointing because it failed to shed light on the actions behind the kidnappings.

"From the beginning I have rejected this trial because it has not investigated the involvement of Prabowo, Syafrie Syamsuddin, Feisal Tanjung and even Suharto himself, those most responsible for the kidnappings," he told AFP.

Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto, a son-in-law of Suharto, was head of Kopassus when the abduction took place, Major General Syafrie Syamsuddin headed the Jakarta military command while the current Coordinating Minister of Political and Security General Feisal Tanjung was military chief. "The ones tried now are only the operators of the kidnapping, so it is inadequate," he said.

Head of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation Bambang Wijoyanto said the court martial had only been held to protect the greater interest of the Kopassus force.

"The trial has not accomodated the sense of justice of the kidnap victims and families of those who are still missing," Wijoyanto told AFP. [It] was used more as instrument to protect the military and state violence."

Only nine of the 23 activists kidnapped in the last months of the Suharto regime have resurfaced. One was later found dead and the 13 others are still missing.

Lustrilanang said another shortcoming of the trial was the absence of torture charges despite the detailed accounts of such treatment from most of the nine victims who survived.

None of the 11 military men were questioned over the kidnappings of the other activists. "This trial was merely a political play carried out to appease the public demand, both domestic and international," he said.

Lustrilanang was pessimistic that justice would ever be done under the government of Suharto's hand-picked successor President B.J. Habibie, and called for a special commission to track down the missing activists.