An East Timorese man, wounded in an attack on a refugee-packed compound in Dili in April 1999, told a court here that Indonesian soldiers were among the attackers.
"I am certain that the TNI [the Indonesian armed forces] launched the attack because I recognized several people among the attackers as being TNI members from the Maubara [subdistrict]," witness Florendo de Jesus told the rights trial at the Central Jakarta district court.
De Jesus, 21, a student from the East Timor capital Dili, was testifying at the trial of Lieutenant Colonel Endar Priyanto, a former East Timor military chief, for gross human rights violations in the former Indonesian-ruled territory.
When asked to identify the soldiers among the attackers, the witness gave six names whom he said were all soldiers serving in the Maubara subdistrict. "One of them is my own uncle, Jose Matheus," de Jesus said.
He also insisted that the incident on April 17, 1999, could only be described as a one-sided attack and not a clash between two East Timorese factions as the defendant had alleged.
"It was an attack and not a clash," de Jesus said of the events which began shortly after noon. He said a car had initially tried to ram the main gate of the residence of pro-independence leader Manuel Viegas Carascallao, where de Jesus and some 200 other refugees had sought shelter and protection.
When this failed, a truck broke down the gate allowing the attackers to storm the house. At least 12 people were killed in the attack, including a son of Carascallao.
"I tried to jump the fence and run but some men came after me and I was wounded by a machete slash on my back," said de Jesus, one of the few East Timorese willing to testify at the Indonesian rights court.
Others have declined to testify in Jakarta, mostly citing fears for their security.
Priyanto is one of 18 military and police officers, officials and civilians who have faced charges of gross human rights violations for failing to prevent or stop massacres by subordinates in Dili in April and September 1999.
In widely criticised verdicts, the court has already acquitted six officers including the former police chief and sentenced the former governor to just three years in jail. The others are still on trial.
Pro-Indonesian local militias, who were armed and organised by the Indonesian military, launched a brutal campaign of intimidation before the August 1999 vote to break away from Indonesia and a revenge campaign afterwards. An estimated 1,000 people were killed. The trial continues next Monday.