Catharine Munro, Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, the militia leader who fought against independence from Indonesia in his native East Timor three years ago, today faced a human rights tribunal in Jakarta to hear charges of abuses.

A confident Guterres, 28, shook hands with his judges and prosecutors after being accused of failing to control his militia members ahead of the vote on independence on August 30, 1999.

"In your position as the former commander of [militia group] Aitarak, you were responsible for gross human rights violations conducted by your subordinates," prosecutor Muhammad Yusuf alleged. His charges carry a sentence ranging from a minimum 10 years imprisonment to death.

Guterres was deputy commander of the militia groups, set up by Jakarta ostensibly to maintain security in the province. He was also the flamboyant chief of the Aitarak militia gang based in capital Dili who threatened four days before the vote that the town would be turned into a "sea of fire" if independence was declared.

With the overwhelming vote to secede, East Timor was ransacked by militia and more than 1,000 people were killed.

Prosecutors today claimed Guterres incited an attack on the home of independence leader Manuel Carrascalao, where 136 refugees were sheltering on April 17, 1999.

Carrascalao's adopted teenage son was among 12 who died in the attack.

At the Jakarta hearing, prosecutors said Mr Guterres made a call to arms against the leadership of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), including Mr Carrascalao. "All leaders of CNRT must be eliminated. All pro-independence people must be killed," he was accused of telling his supporters in a scene at the governor's office that was widely televised, Yusuf said.

But absent from the charges was any reference to allegations by East Timorese human rights group Yayasan HAK that Guterres led an attack which resulted in a massacre in the town of Liquica in the same month.

Under the Dutch-based Indonesian legal system, Guterres, who is not in detention, was not required to enter a plea.

Afterwards, Guterres, wearing a scarf with Indonesia's national colours of red and white, approached the members of the bench, all of whom agreed to shake his hand.

"I do not reject the charges, but the charges must be proven in front of the court," he then told reporters. "The charges suggest I failed to maintain security in Dili. My question is why should I be responsible, when there were other leaders above me?"

The Indonesian military (TNI) commander for Dili, then-Colonel Tono Suratman, who reportedly gave Guterres his orders, has been named as a suspect but is yet to be charged. Neither has former regional commander Major General Adam Damiri.

Suratman is now a Brigadier General who acts as TNI's deputy spokesman while Damiri is based in Jakarta and is responsible for deciding troop deployments around Indonesia.

International observers have criticised the human rights tribunal for being too narrow in scope to prove that the ransacking of East Timor was systematically planned by the military. They have also criticised the prosecutors' indictments as being too weak.