Jakarta – Prosecutors plan to soon appeal a string of verdicts acquitting Indonesian police and military officers accused over the violence that swept East Timor during its break from Indonesia in 1999, a court spokesman said Monday.

Critics say the acquittals by a human rights court in Jakarta of six military officers, three policemen and two former East Timor government servants on charges of crimes against humanity show that Indonesia is not serious about seeking justice.

The 11 are among 18 officials on trial over a campaign of terror by Indonesian troops and their militia proxies aimed at forcing people to vote for continued union with Jakarta. Nearly 2,000 civilians were believed killed.

Only five defendants have been convicted of prison terms ranging from three to 10 years. They all remain free pending appeals of their cases. The trials of two military generals are ongoing.

"All the prosecutors dealing with those acquitted have submitted their appeals to the court," said Judge Andi Samsan Nganro, a spokesman for the Jakarta court.

"We are in the process of finalizing the dossiers, and hopefully we can file the appeals to the Supreme Court in April," he told The Associated Press.

Earlier Monday, Supreme Court chief Bagir Manan installed six judges to try the appeals.

Human rights activists have criticized the trials as a sham, saying they were convened in order to defuse an international drive to set up a UN war crimes trial for East Timor akin to those for ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

In a sign of growing frustration with the legal process in Indonesia, East Timorese prosecutors indicted last month several senior generals, including then military chief Gen. Wiranto, over the violence. Jakarta said it would ignore that indictment.

East Timor gained full independence in May, after a period of transitional rule by the United Nations following Indonesia's brutal 24-year occupation.