Catharine Munro, Jakarta – Indonesia's top military brass descended on a courthouse in Jakarta yesterday to give moral support to a group of low-level commanders accused of human rights abuses in East Timor.

The four officers became the country's first soldiers to face charges of crimes against humanity in Indonesia's landmark tribunal, which is examining abuses before and after East Timor's independence vote in August 1999.

Commander Widodo Adisucipto sat in court as charges were read out. Standing in and outside the court were about 25 members of the military's feared special forces, Kopassus, while 300 anti-East Timor demonstrators staged a protest outside. One placard read "Mr Howard is the Indonesian people's enemy".

Admiral Widodo was accompanied by Brigadier General Tono Suratman, a military spokesman who is one of the 18 suspects in the human rights abuses in East Timor but has not been charged. Also present was Major-General Syafrie Syamsuddin, a former Kopassus member, who is the new spokesman. for the military. He is accused by human rights activists of helping to plan the East Timor violence.