Stephen Collinson, Washington – An activist from East Timor tearfully told on Tuesday of his brother's murder in violence that erupted after the territory voted for independence, as a US court opened a civil trial into an Indonesian general's alleged role in the carnage.

The US District Court in Washington is trying General Johny Lumintang in absentia. He is charged with presiding over gross human rights violations against East Timor's people before and after they voted to leave Indonesia in August, 1999.

General Lumintang was vice-chief-of-staff of the army at the time of the vote, which triggered a rampage by pro-Jakarta militias who launched massacres and forced tens of thousands from their homes.

The crux of the case, brought by three East Timorese, lies in the claim that top Indonesian military officers planned and supervised the violence.

The first witness, a political activist whose name was withheld for his own safety, said his brother, also an independence advocate, was murdered by militia members and his father was shot in an attempted execution.

He recounted how he found out about his brother's death when he returned to East Timor after having fled to Bali. Relatives told him how militiamen hunted down his brother, whose identity was also withheld from the court, shooting him in the legs and stabbing him before finally cutting his throat, said the activist.

His family had later found the body buried by a river. "We found pieces of his body, fingers," he told the presiding magistrate through an interpreter.

General Lumintang, secretary-general of Indonesia's Ministry of Defence, did not appear in court and was not represented.