Lhokseumawe – An Indonesian military court on Monday found three soldiers guilty of beating civilians in war-torn Aceh and sentenced them to four months and 20 days in jail – about half what prosecutors had demanded.
It is the first trial of government troops in the western-most province since Indonesia launched a major offensive there on May 19 to wipe out separatist rebels.
"The defendants have conducted a crime because they could not hold their emotions, prompting the beating of civilians," presiding judge Major Hulwani told the court in Lhokseumawe, a key base for the military operation.
He said lawyers for the defendants, low-ranking soldiers, could appeal within a week. Military prosecutors had demanded sentences of around eight months for each defendant.
Prosecutors said the privates severely beat three civilians, including a village chief, in the hamlet of Lawang in Bireun district last month.
The defendants told the court they beat the villagers because they refused to cooperate when asked about rebel activities in the area – a stronghold of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and a focal point of the military operation.
The trial of another three soldiers charged over the same incident opened on Monday. A fourth soldier has also charged but no trial date has been set.
The trials come as the military insists it is doing its best to avoid civilian casualties in its latest offensive.
The military's latest figures for the offensive put the number of GAM fighters killed at 112, with 160 captured and 92 surrendering. It says 10 soldiers, three police and one civilian have been killed.
Rebel sources say scores of civilians and hundreds of government troops have been killed.
More than 25,000 people have fled their homes because of the fighting which Indonesia has said could last anywhere from two to six months.
Indonesian troops and the rebels have been fighting each other in the resource-rich province on the tip of Sumatra island for 27 years in a conflict that has killed at least 10,000 people.
Jakarta has offered autonomy for Aceh but the rebels say they want nothing short of independence.