Mark Dodd – Notorious former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres is to return home with a personal guarantee for his safety by the country's President, despite a UN war crimes panel indicting him for murders committed in 1999.

East Timor resistance hero turned President Xanana Gusmao invited Guterres to return during a visit to Kupang, the provincial capital of Indonesian West Timor.

On April 17, 1999, Guterres, a former commander of the Dili-based Aitarak (Thorn) militia, ordered scores of armed followers to attack the Dili house of pro-independence leader Manuel Carrascalao – an assault that led to the death of 12 unarmed people, including Mr Carrascalao's son Manuelito.

More than 1500 pro-independence Timorese died in the bloody mayhem that followed the UN-brokered independence ballot later that year.

Guterres and his followers slipped across the border into West Timor days before the arrival of an Australia-led peacekeeping force.

In his first-ever meeting with Mr Gusmao, a former rival Falintil guerilla commander, he promised to work towards reconciliation, saying he would bring with him 26 other former militia leaders when he returned home next month.

But East Timor's main human rights body, Yayasan-HAK, says it is horrified at the prospect of Guterres returning to Dili. HAK spokesman Jose Oliveira feared that once news began to circulate about the decision it could lead to violence from angry Aitarak victims.

"This decision is very bad for East Timor and will make many common people angry because they have no justice," he said.