Dili – It's been 10 years since Rudolfo dos Santos, then 14, watched as his neighbours and friends were shot, beaten and hacked to death by East Timorese and Indonesian anti-independence militias, police and soldiers.
In April 1999, about five months before East Timor would vote in favour of independence from Indonesia, it was a sign of the destruction that was to come when the Indonesian military and its militias pulled out of the country after 24 years of occupation.
"I saw with my own eyes people being killed in front of me like animals," said dos Santos, now 24, speaking from his home in northern Liquica district, less than a minute's walk from the site of the massacre.
On April 5, 1999, Besi Merah Puti (BMP) militias joined Indonesian police officers and soldiers in Dato village in Liquica. During the day, soldiers and militias burned and looted houses around the district.
About 2,000 people had sought refuge at the home of the local priest in the grounds of the Catholic church.
"People were squeezed together in the house and the yard. We thought the residence of the priest would be a safe place to go," said dos Santos.
Militias and soldiers then surrounded the church and the priest's residence. "They told us they were doing it for our protection," he said.
"The next morning, BMP militias came to the church and started killing people with katanas (a kind of sword) and guns. I fell to the ground and played dead. When I opened my eyes I could still see them killing people," he said. "I got up and ran. I jumped over a fence and they chased me, shooting at me. I ran and hid until I got to the house of one of my relatives."
Dos Santos's father was one of up to 60 people killed that day, according to UN-commissioned research. "My father didn't want to escape. He stayed there and died. He said he was ready to die for his country," he added.
That night, dos Santos went back to his home, from where he could see the site of the massacre. "I watched as they loaded two military trucks with bodies and drove them away. Then the trucks came back and they loaded them up again," he said.
"My cousin pretended to be dead and he was thrown onto the trucks with the bodies. They took the bodies to a nearby lake and dumped them. That's when my cousin escaped."
The next day, militias went round the village telling people anyone who did not have an Indonesian flag showing in their house would "have trouble".
Soon after, BMP militias came and took another of dos Santos' cousins away, suspecting him of supporting the pro-independence movement. Anuku, 21, came back with stab wounds to his abdomen and died of his injuries.
Despite the gravity of the crimes, there has been little justice for the victims.
Last year, Indonesia expressed regret for violence in East Timor in 1999, after accepting a truth commission report – written jointly with the East Timorese government – blaming it for crimes against humanity.
But President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, an ex-general, has rejected calls for an international tribunal. The current leadership of East Timor agree with him, arguing the past should be forgiven in the interests of a better future.
This has not satisfied neither the United Nations, which continues to press for some form of international justice, nor many of the victims.
On April 4, more than 200 people gathered at the site of the massacre to hold a commemorative ceremony. Conspicuous by their absence were East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, President Jose Ramos-Horta and UN Mission chief Atul Khare, all of whom had promised to attend.
One key player in the Liquica massacre was Eurico Guterres, a prominent anti-independence militia leader. Although himself East Timorese, he served in the Indonesian military and was involved in several other massacres.
In 2006, Guterres was convicted in Jakarta for crimes against humanity in East Timor, but he was cleared of all charges by Indonesia's Supreme Court in March last year.
Now he is campaigning in West Timor for election to Indonesia's national parliament.