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Australian soldiers accused of torture

Source
South China Morning Post - November 2, 2000

Kerry-Anne Walsh, Canberra – An investigation has been launched into allegations that Australian soldiers on duty in East Timor brutalised and tortured captured pro-Indonesian militia members.

Federal police, army investigators, the Naval Investigation Service and the Air Force Legal Force have combined to probe accusations levelled at army intelligence personnel and members of the elite Special Air Service (SAS) regiment.

According to a report in the Courier-Mail newspaper, members of the SAS tortured militia detainees and took trophy photos of themselves standing over the bodies of militiamen killed in a gunfight.

In a skirmish on October 6 last year at Suai, near the West Timor border, two militia members were shot dead and nine captured after they ambushed a vehicle convoy. Two SAS soldiers were wounded, the first Australian combat casualties since the Vietnam War.

Troops of the International Force for East Timor (Interfet) had arrived in East Timor two weeks before. The newspaper said the dead militiamen were also used to terrify other militia members during interrogation. Other claims include captured militiamen being covered in bruises after questioning.

Responding to the report yesterday, Army chief Lieutenant-General Peter Cosgrove said investigators would "get to the bottom of the matter once and for all". He said similar allegations had been made last year and proved groundless, but as they had resurfaced a new investigation was warranted.

The Army chief said he would be outraged if the allegations were correct. "If they haven't behaved properly we will take very resolute action," he said. "It is extremely out of character for these sort of events to be alleged against the sort of soldiers who are presently involved in the allegation." He said some indications pointed to the claims being groundless, and he would be "a mightily relieved man" if that was the case.

Welcoming the investigation, Prime Minister John Howard echoed General Cosgrove's view that the allegations could be without substance. "I'm not prepared to be any more definitive than that until the investigation is completed. It is not the Australian way, but I'm not suggesting that the allegations are true," he said.

Army deputy chief Major-General Peter Leahy said if any of the allegations were proved, they were "against our key values and ethos", and undermined the good work of Australians in East Timor.

A handful of Australian soldiers were reprimanded and sent home earlier this year after East Timorese women in one village made claims of drunkenness and sexual harassment that were proved.

On the home front, General Cosgrove is dealing with an inquiry into the activities of the elite 3RAR paratroopers battalion, which he once led. A federal parliamentary inquiry is investigating claims of brutality and torture within its ranks.

After arming and organising the pro-Jakarta militias that devastated East Timor last year, the Indonesian army appears to have scaled back its support for the gangs, a UN peacekeeper said.

Australian Brigadier Ken Gillespie, who heads the UN's peacekeeping operations along East Timor's border, said groups of armed militiamen that had infiltrated the territory were gradually withdrawing into Indonesian-held West Timor.

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