Sian Powell, Jakarta – The acquittal of an Indonesian military commander accused of human rights breaches in East Timor in 1999 has been upheld by the Supreme Court in Jakarta, prompting activists to again condemn the entire process as a whitewash.

Of the many East Timor human rights cases it has reviewed so far, the Supreme Court has convicted just one man: an East Timorese civil official, and he has yet to be jailed.

In a split decision, the court this week upheld the acquittal of Dili district commander Lieutenant-Colonel Endar Priyanto.

Earlier acquitted by the Ad Hoc Tribunal on Human Rights, Liuetenant-Colonel Priyanto was originally charged with having permitted soldiers under his command to connive at the murder and torture of East Timorese independence supporters in the house of independence leader Manuel Vegas Carrascalao, on April 17, 1999.

Lieutenant-Colonel Priyanto, a special forces Kopassus commander, had been accused of crimes against humanity for failing to prevent the violence that roared through East Timor in 1999.

The Indonesian military and their militia proxies have been found responsible for the violent deaths of as many as 1400 East Timorese, countless rapes and assaults, the forced deportation of one-quarter of the population and the destruction of most government buildings in the half-island. The slaughter of 12 people in the Carrascalao house, including the leader's teenage son, was a watershed in the violence that blanketed East Timor during that bloody year.

The Supreme Court has already reviewed most of the 18 cases heard by the tribunal, and upheld the conviction only of former East Timor governor Abilio Soares.