Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The long-awaited trial of 24 soldiers charged with the massacre of 58 civilians in West Aceh last July has been called a show that will be hampered by its connections to military legal procedures.

Mr Irianto Subiakto, a human-rights lawyer from Indonesian Legal Aid, said: "You have to ask if the government is serious or not. It is just a show for the people to put soldiers on trial and punish the boys." Lawyers are concerned the hybrid trial, which uses both civilian and military judges, will not satisfy the Acehnese people's demand for justice for the thousands of human- rights abuses allegedly committed by the military in its campaigns against separatists over the last decade. The hearing is the first of its kind.

The plea-bargain for the defence, made on Saturday, the second day of the hearing, indicates just how difficult it will be to ensure a fair trial involving both criminal and military legal procedures. The defence for the soldiers argued that the shooting of Islamic teacher Teungku Bantaqiah and his followers, including women and children, was not criminal because the soldiers were just following orders.

"If we follow a military paradigm, it is true that these soldiers were just following orders," said Mr Irianto. "So the question is: To what extent is the command structure responsible for its subordinates?" Mr Irianto said that, under Indonesian military law, soldiers had diminished responsibility if they were following orders.

The only problem is that Lt-Colonel Sudjono, the most senior defendant in the case, disappeared last November. He is the officer who could best have been expected to say who gave the orders to pursue the Islamic leader.

In the absence of the key witness, if only criminal law was used to prosecute the accused, the 24 soldiers would be held responsible for the massacre, while the high-ranking military commanders behind the scenes would not be tried, Mr Irianto said. Before the trial, the military argued that the Islamic teacher and his students were Free Aceh rebels, who opened fire on the troops while they were searching for weapons.

Non-governmental groups are also angry at what they see as an attempt to make scapegoats of low-ranking officers. "Where is the justice if only the subordinates are charged?" asked Mr Muhammad Nazar from the Aceh Referendum Information Centre.

Mr Nazar, like many other leaders of non-governmental groups in Aceh, said the trial should have been held by an international tribunal. "What was done by the Indonesian military in Aceh was political, not just criminal. If Indonesian law appreciates human rights, they would not have a connectivas trial," he said referring to the hybrid nature of the court.