Jakarta/Kupang – The Supreme Court reinstated a 10 year-jail term for former pro-Jakarta militia leader Eurico Guterres on Monday for committing crimes against humanity before East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999.
Guterres is the second civilian convicted by the Supreme Court of involvement in the 1999 atrocities in the country's former province.
In April 2004, the court sentenced former East Timor governor Abilio Soares to three years' imprisonment but later acquitted him in November of all charges because of new evidence.
In 2002, Indonesia's ad hoc human rights court sentenced Guterres to 10 years in prison for crimes against humanity. The jail term was later reduced to five years on appeal. Guterres, who is now an Indonesian citizen, had remained free pending appeal.
He headed the Aitarak, or Thorn militia, which terrorized residents of the East Timor capital, Dili, ahead of a 1999 UN-backed referendum on independence.
Four of the five judges found Guterres guilty, with one judge Masyhur Effendi, dissenting and asking the court to exonerate Guterres from all charges and restore his good name.
The militia leader was found guilty of failing to stop an attack by his militia members on East Timorese refugees who were taking shelter at a house belonging to Manuel Viegas Carrascalao, a pro-independence figure, on April 17, 1999, four months before the independence ballot. Fourteen people died in the attack.
Masyhur said he based his ruling that Guterres was innocent on witness testimonies, including Carrascalao's. Witnesses had said Indonesian security forces had joined the mob as they ransacked Carrascalo's house in Liquica regency.
"I had a different opinion from the other justices because I believe that Guterres was not the only one who should take responsibility for the attack," Masyhur told Antara.
In a different session, another judicial panel upheld a verdict issued by a lower court releasing Brig. Gen. A. Noer Muis, a former commander of the now-defunct Wira Dharma Military Command, which oversaw the East Timor territory.
The court ruled Muis was not responsible for violence committed against pro-independence groups in two attacks on Sept. 5 and Sept. 6 of 1999. Muis had been ordered to assist the police to maintain order in the province in the months leading up to the ballot.
Previous judicial panels trying gross human rights violations in East Timor have acquitted all high- and middle-ranking police and military officers accused of responsibility for the atrocities.
After the Supreme Court verdict, prosecutors vowed to arrest Guterres, who is living in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
Speaking from his house in Kupang, Guterres said he would file a case review request with the court. "I am innocent. The East Timor problems are not solely mine and I will ask the court to review this verdict," he told The Jakarta Post by phone.