Jakrta – Indonesian prosecutors demanded on Wednesday that the former military chief in East Timor be jailed for 10 years for failing to halt massacres when the territory voted to split from Jakarta rule in 1999.
Brigadier General Noer Moeis, who took control of Indonesia's 10,000 troops in East Timor two weeks before the August 30, 1999 independence vote, is charged for failing to stop the murder of East Timorese. The charge carries a maximum penalty of death and a minimum 10-year sentence.
State prosecutor Widodo Supriyadi said the defendant had failed to act on information about the burning enmity between pro- Indonesian and pro-independence Timorese which had already begun to rack the territory before his arrival.
"The troops under his command only evacuated the victims, although there were 10,000 soldiers who could be ordered to halt the violence," Supriyadi told the Jakarta human rights court.
"The defendant was not an active perpetrator but he didn't do anything to stop the fall of victims caused by the gross and systemic human rights violation of murder," he said.
Pro-Jakarta militia groups went on a rampage after the poll in which East Timorese overwhelmingly voted to break away from Indonesia. The United Nations estimates 1,000 people were killed.
Moeis, a colonel when the alleged crimes took place, is among 18 suspects to go on trial over the mayhem. Only one military officer and two civilians out of 15 suspects who have received verdicts thus far were convicted.
Two military generals are still on trial. One is Moeis's predecessor who watched over the emergence of the pro-Jakarta militia and the other is the highest ranking suspect, a regional military chief whose responsibilities included East Timor.
The sentencing demand for Moeis comes a day after a court in East Timor was handed an indictment charging 15 members of the Indonesian military and 17 militia members with crimes against humanity over the 1999 atrocities.
"All of the accused are believed to be in the Republic of Indonesia. Arrest warrants have been requested from the Dili District Court which will be forwarded to the Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia," the serious crimes panel of the Dili District Court said in a statement.