Dili – East Timor prosecutors charged more than 50 people on Friday, including a former police chief and a militia boss, with crimes against humanity over violence surrounding a 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia.
Earlier this week, charges were filed against eight other people, including a former Indonesian armed forces chief, General Wiranto, and a former governor of East Timor.
But East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, who spent years fighting a guerrilla war against Indonesian rule, questioned the indictments and said it was essential for his country to have good relations with Indonesia. "I still believe the core of this process is for us to keep a good relationship with Indonesia, and more dialogue is necessary, especially for sensitive matters such as this one," Gusmao said in a statement on Friday, referring to the indictments.
He said he saw the legal process, as it was being handled, as not in East Timor's national interest, and suggested the international community should be more involved in determining how human rights cases were handled.
He said he regretted the indictments had not been postponed until he had returned to East Timor from a summit in Malaysia. "Although I respect the decision made, I do not accept and approve the methods adopted in this process," he said.
Among the latest group of people charged, according to a statement from East Timor's serious crimes unit, were a former Indonesian chief of police for East Timor, Timbul Silaen, and a former leader of pro-Jakarta militias, Eurico Guterres.
They were charged "with counts of crimes against humanity including murder, enforced disappearance, inhumane acts and deportation". Most of the others charged in the latest indictments were members of the militias.
The crimes unit has now filed 58 indictments charging a total of 225 people for crimes ranging from rape and torture to murder.
The unit said most of those indicted on Friday were believed to be in Indonesia. Indonesia has so far ruled out sending any of its former officials to East Timor to stand trial.
Gross violations
Former militia boss Guterres was sentenced by an Indonesian human rights court in November to 10 years in jail for "gross rights violations and crimes against humanity". He is appealing against the conviction. Former police chief Silaen was also tried in Indonesia and acquitted.
Indonesian human rights courts have delivered verdicts in the cases of 15 out of 18 suspects charged over alleged human rights violations in East Timor, and has handed down convictions in four of the trials.
In the latest development in Indonesia, a court on Friday postponed for two weeks a verdict in the case of Brigadier-General Noer Moeis, who commanded Indonesian troops in East Timor at the time of the August 30, 1999, ballot in which its citizens voted overwhelmingly to end Jakarta's 24-year rule.
The small number of convictions in Indonesia, the relatively light sentences for those found guilty and the failure to charge Wiranto have triggered criticism from rights groups that Indonesia is being soft on the violence in which the United Nations estimates more than 1,000 people were killed.
Most of the deaths were blamed on pro-Jakarta militias acting with military backing. Many militia members fled to Indonesia after UN peacekeeping forces entered East Timor in late 1999.
Critics say Wiranto as top commander was responsible for what happened. He has said he was innocent and acted as a peacemaker.
Under East Timorese law those charged cannot be tried in absentia. Indonesia argues that its human rights courts should handle the cases of Indonesian nationals.