Indonesia's former military chief, General Wiranto, has agreed to testify to a public hearing of war crimes charges against him, relating to post-independence violence in East Timor in 1999. The presidential candidate is among a group of people indicted by the Special Panel for Serious Crimes in February last year.

Presenter/Interviewer: Linda LoPresti

Speakers: Longuinhos Monteiro, East Timor's chief prosecutor

Monteiro: General Wiranto is willing to give his testimony through the visual link and also it is a good opportunity for him to defend himself, to give his answer on our demands. The next arrangement is will be for me, my office and those from Indonesia who will provide the link for video conference, etc.

Lopresti: And who made the proposal of the video link? Was it General Wiranto's lawyers?

Monteiro: There are two possibilities regarding our criminal procedures in attending the hearing. First is the direct hearing, which means that he could come to Dili and attend straight away in the court. And the second is that our criminal procedures allow for video link or teleconference which can also be used for this. So they choose the teleconference.

Lopresti: And is that because they had concerns of General Wiranto going to Dili?

Monteiro: No they chose to use the teleconference, they prefer to use that facility.

Lopresti: Could you clarify for us, is this a trial of the war crimes charges against General Wiranto?

Monteiro: No it a crimes against humanity on command responsibilities.

Lopresti: So is it going to determine whether there are reasonable grounds for an arrest warrant?

Monteiro: Exactly, exactly. It's the objective of the hearing.

Lopresti: Given that it's been a year since the indictments and there's been no progress, why go through this extra procedure?

Monteiro: Because it seems to me that we have waited for a long time, in a few days it'll be one year exactly and still there has been no answer from the court. So at least we make this motion again to the court to answer us and to agree with our proposal for a hearing.

Lopresti: And you're confident this hearing will go ahead?

Monteiro: I hope for the sake of justice that it shall be done.

Lopresti: Have the judges in Dili agreed to the hearing?

Monteiro: Not yet, I have not contacted them yet but we'll try to make all the arrangements and all the approaches on this issue, and I have to explain to them that the suspect is willing to attend so maybe the judges might put it under consideration for justice.

Lopresti: What kind of timeframe are you looking at? When do you think General Wiranto will give evidence by video link?

Monteiro: If the judges determine a date then I'll make sure that two weeks from the date it probably can be done this teleconference. I presume it can be done in maybe one and a half months from now.

Lopresti: And can you put into some sort of perspective how important it is to have these matters aired in public and on the record?

Monteiro: I think this is a very good opportunity for everybody so we make it open, so no one can get suspicious or can politicise this matter. For the prosecutor it is also good because it means we can make our argument through the link, and also this is a good opportunity for the suspect to also defend himself and to answer all of the demands put on his shoulders.