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Students protest at Aceh massacre trial

Source
South China Morning Post - April 22, 2000

Associated Press in Banda Aceh – A landmark trial of soldiers accused in the massacre of 57 students and teachers in strife- torn Aceh province resumed on Saturday amid tight security as protesters claimed the proceedings were staged.

As lawyers of the defendants – 24 soldiers and one civilian – filed into the courthouse, police cordoned off about 50 students who demanded the trial to be cancelled.

Chanting "We need a trial of those really responsible for the murders, not just their subordinates" and "This trial is staged," the students demanded that top army generals be brought to justice. They were watched by about 2,000 people outside the courthouse. At least two students were injured in a similar protest when the trial opened on Wednesday.

Most of those charged with the killings are enlisted men, and the highest ranking officer is a captain. The commander of the operation, Lieutenant-Colonel Sudjono, has been missing since he was named as a suspect late last year.

A statement released this week by New York-based Human Rights Watch warned that the trial will be seen as "tokenism" unless senior commanders face justice.

All 25 defendants have been accused of the premeditated murder of a group of villagers attending Islamic class in Beutong Ateuh village in west Aceh in July. If found guilty, they can be sentenced to death.

Witnesses said the victims – a preacher and 56 followers – were rounded up and taken to a nearby forest where they were executed. The army contended that the victims were members of the rebel group of Free Aceh Movement, and they were killed in a gun battle with security forces.

Separatist rebels have been waging a 25-year struggle to set up an independent state in the oil-rich and staunchly Muslim province on the northern tip of Sumatra. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the past decade.

The trial is the first of five human rights cases planned in coming months for the province. The trials are being heard in a specially convened court by a panel of both civil and military judges.

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