A United Nations commission says Indonesia should be given six months to re-try those accused of destroying East Timor or they should face an international war crimes court.

Martin: Not one person is in jail, following Indonesia's attempt to punish those responsible for the 1999 ruin of East Timor. After the former Portuguese territory voted overwhelmingly for independence, Indonesia's military and its militias laid waste to East Timor, killing, looting and burning as they went.

There was always going to be problems bringing those responsible to justice. East Timor has no extradition treaty with Indonesia, so UN-sponsored trials in Dili had to try Indonesian soldiers in absentia.

Rejecting the option of an international tribunal, the UN put the onus on Jakarta to judge those guilty of war crimes. But only 18 came to trial in the newly established human rights court, and just two were convicted. One of those convictions has been overturned, and the other is also expected to be reversed.

So the UN Security Council set up a Commission of Experts five months ago to assess the legal process, and find out why no-one's been punished. The commission has just reported, and one of the few outside the UN to be briefed on its contents is Jill Joliffe, veteran freelance writer on East Timorese issues.

Joliffe: The Commission of Experts described the conduct of the trials which they examined closely as having prosecutors who weren't committed to justice, saying that the court had been hostile to defence witnesses, but lenient on the accused. They said they were manifestly inadequate and had no respect, scant respect for relevant international standards. So they consider them really as with almost no legal credibility whatsoever.

Martin: Tell us the main recommendations of the commission's report?

Joliiffe: It's recommendations were that because the legal process was so deeply flawed, that the trial should be held again altogether. Now this is a rather unusual recommendation, because normally a person who was put on trial again would be subject to what's known as double jeopardy. But it said they were so flawed that the complaint of double jeopardy could not be used as a legal defence.

It has called on the parallel institution in East Timor, the serious crimes unit which attempted to prosecute some of the senior Indonesian officials to give its documentation to a new prosecution, in particular documentation about the indictment of General Wiranto, the former defence chief and other senior figures. It suggested that the Secretary-General should appoint a special legal aid team an international team of jurists to go to Indonesia and assist the attorney-general in conducting the new trials. It says that if Indonesia does not comply with these demands within six months from a date specified by the secretary-general, then the UN will look at other possibilities, including the establishment of an international war crimes tribunal on East Timor.

Martin: The United Nations isn't necessarily going to welcome a recommendation to look at a war crimes tribunal, a very expensive and in the current international political climate, not a very welcome recommendation?

Joliffe: That's right. I think that they will go very hard on the rerunning of the trials in Jakarta. There is a personal connection between Kofi Annan and the Indonesian President, Yuduyono who in previous positions both served in Kosovo.

Martin: So there is some kind of personal connection and you think Kofi Annan may try to somehow exploit this?

Joliffe: Yeah, I think that they're going to pressure the Indonesians very hard for this retrial in order to avoid the international court.

Martin: Yet the refusal to give this commission of experts visas was under the administration of Susilo Bambang Yudoyono, so how likely is it really that Jakarta is going to accept this kind of recommendation or indeed bow to this pressure?

Joliffe: I think that the past history suggest its highly unlikely and of course they will have many friends at the UN who'll be lobbying hard to make sure that this doesn't get through. But this commission of experts was after all appointed by Kofi Annan. It seems that there will certainly be some much stronger measure taken to bring people to justice over the 1999 crimes in East Timor.