Agencies in Jakarta and Geneva – The United Nations and foreign diplomats yesterday condemned as a mockery jail terms imposed by a Jakarta court on six men convicted in connection with the murders of three foreign aid workers in West Timor last year.
The court dropped manslaughter charges against three of the six. Judge Anak Agung Gde Dalem, head of the three-judge panel, instead upheld charges against them of "fomenting violence which resulted in the deaths of three United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) workers".
The judges sentenced the three – Julius Maisama, 35, Jose Francisco, 30, and Joao Alves da Cruz, 26 – to between 16 and 20 months' imprisonment on the lesser charge.
The judges also handed down jail terms to three other East Timorese, who were originally charged with violence leading to the death of a person or persons, on the lesser charge of "conspiring to foment violence which resulted in damage to property." Xisto Pereira, 26, and Joao Martins, 27, were both sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment while Serafin Ximenes was jailed for 15 months.
The court's leniency is likely to increase external pressure for the establishment of an international war crimes tribunal for East Timor amid claims that Indonesia is incapable of delivering justice over human rights abuses.
Indonesia has already been harshly criticised for delaying the prosecution of dozens of key suspects, including top military commanders, accused of other atrocities in East Timor.
"The sentences make a mockery of the international community's insistence that justice be done in this horrific case," the UNHCR said in Geneva.
The decision by the North Jakarta District Court "flies in the face of world opinion and is an affront to the memory of those humanitarians who have given their lives in the service of others", the UN statement said.
On September 6 last year, a mob of pro-Indonesian militia stormed a UNHCR office in the Indonesian town of Atambua, West Timor, near the border with East Timor.
Before the assault, Indonesian army commanders had assured UN staff that they would be protected. But Jakarta's troops stood by and did nothing. Witnesses said the aid workers – from the US, Croatia and Ethiopia – were stabbed and stoned to death before being dragged out to the street and set alight.
"This is nothing. I've never heard of sentences this light for murder," said Boris Mitrovic, Croatia's ambassador in Jakarta.
The defendants, wearing red and white shirts and baseball caps, said they had no regrets. "I accept the sentence with pride because I did what I did to defend [Indonesia's] red and white flag," said Maisama.
"My clients made a mistake because three people got killed," said defence lawyer Suhardi Sumomulyono. "But it was a mob attack and they were not the only ones responsible." Lawyers for both sides have a week to lodge an appeal against the sentences.
Indonesian rights activists also condemned the verdicts. "This often happens in Indonesia – the categories of crimes are minimised and punishments reduced," said rights lawyer Hendardi , head of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association.
"But the problem in a case like this is we're facing the international community. Can they accept this? I think ... they are starting to lose faith in the Indonesian Government's law enforcement efforts."
The secretary-general of Indonesia's Human Rights Commission, Asmara Nababan, implored prosecutors to appeal, saying: "They should appeal to the High Court against not only the light sentence but also the lessened charge," he said, adding that the outcome showed Indonesia's judiciary system was still devoid of credibility.
The killings led the UN and other international groups to withdraw from West Timor. Aid agencies still refuse to return to the region. The defendants are pro-Jakarta militiamen who, along with about 120,000 refugees, moved from East Timor after it voted to break free from Indonesian rule in a UN-sponsored ballot in 1999.