Jakarta – A lawyer for former Indonesian military chief Wiranto accused East Timor prosecutors on Wednesday of trying to sabotage the general's bid for the Indonesian presidency by seeking his arrest.

The United Nations-funded prosecutors are urging an East Timor court to issue an arrest warrant for Wiranto, saying he failed to curb militia atrocities in the territory in 1999.

The lawyer, Muladi, said the allegations amount to "character assassination."

"The issue has been deliberately blown up because his [Wiranto's] position is getting stronger in the race for the presidency. Maybe there are concerns abroad or at home," the lawyer said.

Wiranto is seeking the Golkar party's nomination for the presidential election in July and has already started a high-profile campaign.

The Washington Post reported in January that the United States has put Wiranto and others accused of war crimes in East Timor on a visa watch list that could bar them from entering the country,

Muladi said the bid for an arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity violates international law.

He told a press conference that Indonesian authorities, involving the national human rights commission, had investigated Wiranto and decided not to charge him over the abuses in East Timor.

Muladi, who was justice minister when the East Timor atrocities took place, said Jakarta had set up a human rights court over the 1999 violence.

He alleged that during the trials there was no evidence that the violence had been orchestrated by the military.

Muladi said that "based on the complementary principle of international law," it was inadmissable to seek to try someone overseas if a case had been investigated.

Pro-Jakarta militias, aided by Indonesian soldiers, waged a bloody campaign against independence supporters before and after East Timorese voted in August 1999 to break away from Indonesian rule.

The UN says up to 1,500 civilians were killed and some 70 percent of the country's buildings were destroyed.

Wiranto has said he did his best to prevent the violence. But East Timor prosecutors cite "overwhelming" evidence that he failed to prevent atrocities or to punish them.

"The evidence shows that (Indonesian) armed forces assisted in the formation, funding, training and arming of the militias and that they often assisted in the militia violence or stood by and let it happen," says a prosecution brief.

Jakarta's rights court has been described by human rights groups as largely a sham.