Sian Powell, Jakarta – In an extraordinary reversal, East Timor's prosecutor-general has distanced himself from an arrest warrant issued for Wiranto, former Indonesian armed forces commander and heavyweight presidential candidate in Indonesia's forthcoming election.

Longuinhos Monteiro told local reporters the case needed revision and he had lost faith in the UN staff who helped compile it.

The UN-funded Serious Crimes Unit indicted Wiranto last year for crimes against humanity, charging him with command responsibility in 1999 when the Indonesian military and its militia proxies laid waste to East Timor, leaving 1500 East Timorese dead.

This week a US judge on the Special Panel for Serious Crimes, which has been trying those arrested for the 1999 violence, issued an arrest warrant for the former general, a move likely to have created tensions between East Timor and Indonesia.

East Timorese leaders including President Xanana Gusmao and Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta have downplayed Wiranto's culpability for war crimes, in the interests of smooth relations with East Timor's giant neighbour.

Dr Monteiro said on Tuesday he had misgivings about the Wiranto case and that action would be taken to change East Timor's approach.

"I filed a letter this morning which did not close the case but for the sake of revising the case," he said. "The case is still being followed up."