[Achieving justice in East Timor for the victims of the violence after the 1999 independence vote, is not proving to be an easy task. With just six months to complete its investigations, East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit is facing almost insurmountable problems, as this report from Karon Snowdon reveals.]

In East Timor it was easier to set up a defence force than a justice system.

But, it shouldn't surprise anyone that a country left in ruins and with just one qualified lawyer and no judges should be finding it difficult to get a functioning justice system operating just a few years after the Indonesian sponsored chaos of 1999.

But that's what the United Nations adminstration had hoped for when it set up a court system and the Serious Crimes Unit just a year later.

And not just any justice system – but one that could deal with crimes against humanity on the scale seen in East Timor. Caitlin Reiger is co-director and legal research coordinator of the judicial system monitoring program in Dili. "It's really struggling, it's struggling in all aspects of its work, in terms of ordinary cases, but also particularly in the handling of the serious crimes cases which so far have focussed on the violence from 1999."

Siri Frigaard is normally the Senior Public Prosecutor for Oslo. Right now she's the Deputy Prosecutor for Serious Crimes in East Timor. While she defends the quality of her team of investigators, she admits to concerns about the next step – the ability of the court to properly prosecute the cases.

"The people who are saying it, they don't really know what we are doing. Because the point is a proper investigation takes time. It's difficult to find witnesses, it's difficult to persuade them to give evidence. And if you are looking at the big cases here, how complex they are, and also we are trying to establish the crimes against humanity, it has to take time. And with the resources this unit has, I think compared to other international courts, that they are producing more than they could expect from them, and they are doing a great job."

"What I am afraid of is that afterwards, some years ahead, people will say that it was not justice because they didn't have enough defence, they didn't have proper interpreters. That I'm afraid might happen. The point is when you are planning a mission like this, you have to think of the whole chain, support the whole chain and not only one part of it."

JSMP provides independent monitoring and analysis of the development of the new justice system in East Timor, with particular focus on its capacity to deal with the serious crimes cases. Caitlin Reiger says there are several problems. "There are a range of problems that both relate to the political context of the serious crimes cases, namely that Indonesia's not cooperating with the prosecutions and therefore there's a limit to how much those cases that are brought here in East Timor are able to achieve." "And also the other major problem is the situation here in East Timor, with the court system, in that it's struggling, both due to lack of resources, lack of experienced personnel and will need significant international assistance for some time to come."

Caitlin Reiger says this is significant for the carriage of justice in East Timor. "Well it certainly means that at the moment the cases are really struggling to meet international fair trial standards, and that has significant ramifications not just for the development of a society based on the rule of law now within East Timor, but also inspiring the East Timorese community to have faith in their new justice system as well as the international community's obligation to prosecute those responsible for the worst types of human rights violations."

So it's not just a case of first catch your criminal, but make sure you can put on a fair trial. And then there's the sheer number of cases. Around 120 indictments have seen just 23 convictions so far – a lot to get through when the special court is meant to wind up at the end of next year.

The numerous problems facing the Special Panel of Dili's District Court which is prosecuting the cases appear to have no immediate solutions. They include the lack of translators – some hearings are trying to operate with five languages to accomodate not just defendents but international judges.

There's a serious lack of qualified judges and inexperienced defence lawyers are facing prosecutors who cut their teeth in international tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. There's little funding to make many improvements, including getting the typing done.

The Foundation for Law, Human Rights and Justice documented many crimes before Indonesian troops destroyed its office and jailed the researchers, including the Foundation's head of policy, Joachim Fonseca. He says East Timor has gained independence without justice as he doesn't believe even cases already underway like that against former Governor, Abilio Soares, will succeed.

"The stategy that we would think of is one that allows the prosecution to make use of the information from every individual case, from the trial of the lower ranked militia member, to reach the highest responsible person in the command chain. Otherwise the file is closed and no information can be used for the other cases. Then there is not going to be justice, because only the small militias will be in jail."

Mr Fonseca says there are several serious offenders who could escape because the system is inadequate. "For instance, the governor of East Timor at that time. Abilio Soares. And the military commander here at that time, and the police commander. They all are going to escape, even lower ones are going to escape because they weren't seen in the crime scene."

Of Indonesia's culpability, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 1999, Mary Robinson, had no doubt. Nor for the need for an international tribunal. "That government was complicit, I have to say that. That is what I have heard, that is what I believe. That's what the evidence shows. Yes there must be a tribunal."

East Timor's political leadership, however, says that Indonesia should be trusted to see justice done in its own Ad Hoc Human Rights court.

But the original list of indictments drawn up by the Human Rights Commission has been massively reduced, the charges weakened and the whole charade by Indonesia condemned by human rights watchers.

And Indonesia's refusal to hand over any of the accused to East Timor is a problem, says Caitlin Reiger. "Without the major perpetrators in custody, those who planned the violence, who organised it, who set up the militias, that will limit not just the public perception of how much these trials can achieve but also an international commitment to accountability."

Some people argue that an international tribunal prosecuting these cases is the only solution. But would it have any more success given the problems, that Indonesia simply might not cooperate. Caitlin Reiger: "The main argument in favour of an international tribunal is really that when you have a tribunal that is supported by the whole international community, mandated by the UN's Security Council, there's a lot greater political will that can be brought to bear on Indonesia to try and encourage cooperation."

Against continuing calls from women's groups and human rights activists for an international tribunal, others say the focus needs to be on what's possible and that means supporting East Timor's own efforts. Jon Cina was a legal advsior to the Serious Crimes Unit and before that spent three years working at the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Kosovo. He says there's no political will for an international tribunal. "There is clearly a demand for justice, and there's a right for justice and there's a need for justice. And the Serious Crimes Unit is presently the most effective way of doing that."

Mr Cina says the Serious Crimes Unit should get more international support both morally and financially. "Because President Gusmao and various other members of East Timorese society have repeatedly made clear that East Timor does not have the money to provide any measure of justice. Supporting the Serious Crimes Unit is I believe a more effective way of doing that than supporting an international tribunal."

Jon Cina says an international tribunal would not necessarily have any more success in gaining custody of senior members of Indonesia's military ... and anyway there's no political will to set one up. "Justice is a tremendously expensive endeavour when you have thousands, possibly tens of thousands of perpetrators. And tens of thousands of victims. And one really needs a comprehensive program to address the after-effects of mass crimes such as those that happened in East Timor. That hasn't really been forthcoming in East Timor relative to other areas such as the former Yugoslavia or Rwanda, or for example Afghanistan."

"Principally it's the geo-strategic relationship concering Indonesia, East Timor and countries such as Australia. Because Indonesia is obviously not Yugoslavia. It's far more important regionally and internationally and religiously in terms of its population and the stability of the country, far more than Yugoslavia was or ever will be."

Siri Frigaard, Deputy Prosecutor of the The Serious Crimes Unit says her job must finish by the end of the year because then the money will run out – six months earlier than planned. As a result her investigations are concentrating on a list of what she regards as the top ten crimes.

She adds that, despite not having an extradition treaty with Indonesia, which means East Timor has little chance of putting the most serious offenders on trial, the work won't have been a waste of time. "We are making indictments against the people who are not here. And we are working closely with Australia's mission to make sure that East Timor will become a member of Interpol.

And at the moment, we will have international arrest warrants for all the people that we have indicted. So I think we have given a signal by the indictments. And it's something for the justice in East Timor, they have an indictment against these people. And the moment they move, or the moment the international pressure is big enough, or they'll be indicted or go to court in Indonesia."