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Trial of East Timorese militia leader opens in Jakarta

Source
Agence France Presse - January 2, 2001

Jakarta – A notorious former East Timorese militia leader went on trial here Tuesday charged with inciting criminal activities against the state during a weapons handover in West Timor.

Wearing army fatigues, a bandana in the red and white colors of the Indonesian national flag, sunglasses and black beret, Eurico Guterres was cheered by supporters as he walked into the North Jakarta District Court. "Long Live Eurico," his supporters packing the courtroom gallery shouted.

The leader of the Aitarak (Thorn) militia, Guterres was arrested at a hotel here on October 4 for allegedly ordering his men to snatch back weapons surrendered to police in West Timor during a ceremony in September attended by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri. He faces up to six years in jail if convicted.

Asked by the chief judge Suwardi whether he understood the charges, Guterres said: "I understand but I also do not understand." The judge agreed to a demand by Guterres' lawyer, Suhardi Sumomulyono to adjourn the hearing for a week until next Tuesday.

Earlier the crowd, including female rock singer Renny Jayusman, grouped under the Defenders of National Unity (FPPB), protested outside the courtroom demanding Guterres be freed. "Eurico is a patriot," said one of their posters. "Free Eurico," read another.

"I support Eurico Guterres, he is innocent. My husband died for his homeland so I will continue his struggle," said a woman whose husband died in the conflict during Indonesia's occupation of the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.

The crowd, many of them relatives of East Timor war veterans, sang Indonesia's national anthem for five minutes before the presiding judge declared the session open.

East Timor-based UN prosecutors have implicated Guterres in two massacres in East Timor in April 1999 and have formally asked Indonesia to hand the militia boss over to them.

Indonesian prosecutors in Kupang, West Timor are concurrently appealing a verdict issued by a court there that cleared Guterres of an earlier weapons possession charge.

He is also under investigation by Indonesian prosecutors as a suspect in one of the two April 1999 massacres in the East Timor capital of Dili.

The pro-Indonesia militias launched a frenzy of killing and destruction after the people of East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN-held ballot in August 1999.

The post-ballot violence forced some 250,000 people to flee into West Timor and more than 100,000 others to hide in the forests of East Timor.

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