Ambon – The Ambon District Court here on Monday sentenced 14 men for between two and five years for raising four flags of the outlawed South Maluku Republic in the provincial capital Ambon on April 25, Antara news agency reported. They are all members of the Maluku Sovereignty Front pro-independence movement.

April 25 is the anniversary of the proclamation of the South Maluku Republic (RMS) in 1950, a movement which was quickly quashed by the government of then president Sukarno. Most of the activists and leaders of the group fled to the Netherlands.

"Their actions to separate from the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia has caused concern among society and helped to fuel the conflict in the Malukus," Judge Riyono said. All defendants said they would appeal.

Maluku was ravaged by three years of sectarian violence pitting Muslims against Christians since Jan. 1999. More than 5,000 people were killed. Intermittent violence has continued since both sides signed a government-backed peace pact in February.

Some Muslims said the mainly Christian separatist movement helped fuel the sectarian violence, while Christians blamed the Laskar Jihad Muslim militia.

Alex Manuputty and Samuel Waileruni, the leader and senior official of the Maluku Sovereignty Front, are on trial in Jakarta. The two are accused of subversion by setting up an illegal organization and raising the banned separatist flag. They face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.