Washington – The United States on Monday criticized the Indonesian prosecutors who failed to secure convictions for six out of seven security officials charged with crimes against humanity in East Timor.

"Without commenting on the specific verdicts, which are subject to appeal, the United States is nevertheless disappointed that prosecutors in these cases did not fully use the resources and evidence available to them from the United Nations and elsewhere," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in a written statement.

Last Thursday an Indonesian court ruled that a former East Timor police chief and five other security officers were not guilty of crimes linked to the rampage of violence over an independence referendum in East Timor in 1999. The former Portuguese colony was then ruled by Jakarta.

The previous day the court, set up last year amid international pressure for Jakarta to punish those responsible for the rampage, had sentenced a former governor, on trial for his life, to three years in jail.

Reeker noted that the United States had welcomed the creation of the tribunal and was committed to building a closer relationship with Indonesia, including with its military.

But he added: "We strongly encourage the Indonesian government to build on that positive step by mounting effective and credible prosecutions of the remaining cases that meet international standards of justice and utilize the wealth of available evidence to bring to justice perpetrators of atrocities in East Timor." Earlier this month US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced a $50 million package for Indonesia, most of it for the police but also for military training in counterterrorism and military-civilian relations.