Flaws in the indictment of notorious militia leader, Eurico Guterres, are the clearest indication yet of Indonesia's lack of commitment to justice for the victims of human rights atrocities in East Timor, says Tapol, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.
"The indictment is hopelessly inadequate by any objective legal standards. Indonesia is clearly intent on suppressing the truth of what happened in East Timor. The international community must not allow it to get away with this shameful affront to justice," says Paul Barber of Tapol.
Guterres went on trial last Thursday in the Jakarta ad hoc human rights court charged with the crimes against humanity of murder and assault in relation to an attack on the home of independence leader, Manuel Carrascalao, in Dili on 17 April 1999 in which 12 East Timorese were brutally murdered.
Despite being recorded on film earlier that day inciting thousands of militiamen to "capture and kill if you need" independence supporters who had "betrayed integration [with Indonesia]", including the Carrascalao family, Guterres is not charged with ordering, inciting or participating in the attacks. He is charged only with command responsibility for his failure to control his subordinate militias (see note 1).
The attack on the Carrascalao home and an attack on the home of independence leader Leandro Isaac on the same day (which is referred to in the indictment but is not the subject of any charges) are presented by the prosecution as isolated incidents which resulted from the militias feeling "out of sorts" with the pro-independence supporters. There is no mention of Guterres's alleged responsibility for other violent attacks which took place on the same day and on other occasions.
More importantly, the indictment appears to be designed to ensure that Guterres is acquited. There is no attempt to link the attacks on the Carrascalao and Isaac homes with the wider context of violence orchestrated by the Indonesian military and its militia proxies and no facts are alleged which could give rise to a finding that the attacks on the two homes were part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population, an essential element of crimes against humanity.
It is clear that the Indonesian authorities are now treating international demands for justice with contempt. They are using the Jakarta trials to present Indonesia's own perverse version of events, which portrays the violence in East Timor as either part of a civil war between the pro-Indonesia and pro-independence factions or as a reaction to the bias of the UN by militias acting beyond the control of the security forces.
The Attorney General and his team of prosecutors are complicit in this outrageous deception. Indonesian human rights groups and lawyers have consistently raised concerns about the competence of the prosecutors while the appointment of the current Attorney General, MA Rahman, in August last year was described as "a victory for the army lobby" by one observer (see note 2).
Before his appointment as Attorney General, MA Rahman led the investigation team which was heavily criticised for not including former armed forces commander in chief, General Wiranto, and other high-ranking officers, in its list of suspects involved in human rights crimes in East Timor.
The response of the international community to this flawed process has been shamefully weak. In the case of the US, the administration's desire to resume military relations with Indonesia is undoubtedly a factor in its support for the trials.
"The international community must open it eyes to the fact that this process is a travesty of justice, which will only serve to strengthen Indonesian military impunity, with terrible consequences for those who continue to suffer from military repression in places such as Aceh and West Papua. An alternative international judicial process is now an urgent necessity," says Tapol.
Notes for editors:
1. Eurico Guterres has also been charged with crimes against humanity in relation to the attacks in Dili on 17 April 1999 by the Special Panel for Serious Crimes in East Timor in an indictment issued on 18 February 2002. That indictment alleges individual criminal responsibility as well as command responsibility and contains allegations concerning a widespread or systematic attack against civilians.
2. Hendardi, Chairperson of the Indonesian Human rights and Legal Aid Association (AFP, 15 August 2001)