Jill Jolliffe, Dili – United Nations officials are challenging Indonesia's stand on East Timor war crimes. They are demanding the handover of 10 men accused of a September 1999 massacre in which 65 unarmed civilians were killed. Classified as crimes against humanity, the killings occurred in East Timor's western Oecusse enclave on September 8-10, 1999. They are outside the ambit of a law approved by Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in August.
Despite a UN Security Council resolution giving Indonesia responsibility to try military officers involved in all crimes in East Timor between January 1 and September 20, 1999, the new Indonesian law restricts prosecutions to six specific cases and time periods, excluding the Oecusse massacre.
Prosecutor Mohamed Othman said the killings involved three Oecusse villages and were "the biggest massacre". Investigations had led to the discovery of mass graves when there was a pattern. "The villages were all pro-independence, and young adult males between 16 and 21 were targeted," he said.
An indictment against 11 alleged killers was filed in Dili court on Thursday. Arrest warrants should be issued early this week and sent to the Indonesian prosecutor.
Those accused include Simao Lopes and Laurentino Soares, leaders of the Sakunar militia group, and two Indonesian soldiers, Sergeant Andre Ulan and Anton Sabraka, the Oecusse military commander. Only one person, Florenco Tacaqui, is in custody, in Dili's Becora prison.
Most of those killed had been forcibly abducted to West Timor then marched to an area just inside the Oecusse border, where they were shot or hacked to death. Only 10 survived from the three villages. Their eyewitness testimony, and the fact that investigators exhumed all the bodies and conducted autopsies, makes the prosecution case particularly strong.
The indictment says Sakunar activities were initiated by former provincial government, military and police officials, including ex-governor Abilio Osorio Soares, militia leader Eurico Guterres and the Oecusse military and police commanders, Kamiso Mira and Wilmar Marpaung.
He said the options for Indonesia were to either transfer the 10 men to East Timor under the terms of an April, 2000, legal agreement between Jakarta and the UN, or put them on trial in Indonesia. If the Indonesian Government fails to prosecute perpetrators of crimes in East Timor, the Security Council can authorise establishment of an international war crimes tribunal to hear the cases.