Sydney – A new report backing claims that Indonesian soldiers deliberately killed the Balibo Five journalists has sparked fresh calls for Australia to hold a full judicial inquiry into their deaths.
A report by East Timor's Commission for Truth and Reconciliation says that, based on interviews with witnesses to the deaths in 1975, it believes the five Australian-based newsmen were probably executed by Indonesian soldiers.
The five television journalists – Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart of the Seven Network, and Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters of Nine – were killed while covering Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.
Official reports have insisted the men were killed in crossfire between warring Timorese factions, but their families have always feared they were murdered.
Mr Shackleton's widow, Shirley, today said while she welcomed the report's finding it would prove useless the Australian government held a judicial inquiry into the deaths.
There were many witnesses willing to identify the Balibo Five's killers, but only before a full judicial inquiry, she said. "The Australian government has lied through their teeth for 30 years," Mrs Shackleton said.
"It doesn't mean anything unless the Australian government gets its courage together and says it will have a full judicial inquiry. I want a full judicial inquiry into these murders."
The latest findings on the Balibo Five were contained in a 2,500 page report handed to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week. The report highlights many atrocities during the 24 year Indonesian occupation of East Timor and details the deaths of about 180,000 people.
A coronial inquest into the death of Balibo Five cameraman Brian Peters is to begin in Sydney in July. The deaths of the Balibo Five have sparked controversy about how much the Australian government knew about the incident and when.
British Foreign Office documents obtained last December by relatives of the newsmen showed the British and Australian governments knew what happened to the men and tried to cover up the killings.
Media reports and eyewitnesses have alleged for three decades that Indonesia's former Minister for Information Mohamad Yunus, formerly known as Yunus Yosfiah, opened fire at the Balibo Five.
But appearing before a powerful Indonesian parliamentary committee in 2001, Yunus rejected the allegations and accused witnesses implicating him in the killings of lying.