TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ACEH TRIAL (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261496
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A high-profile human rights trial got
underway Wednesday in Indonesia's Aceh province.
As Patricia Nunan reports from Jakarta, the trial
of 24 soldiers accused of massacring a group of
civilians last year, is seen as a test of the
Indonesian government's ability to curb the
powers of its influential military.
TEXT: Dozens of demonstrators shouted "hang the
generals" and "lies, lies, lies" outside the
courthouse in the provincial capital of Banda
Aceh. Some protesters carried banners proclaiming
the trial was "nonsense" because they said
authorities failed to go after senior military
commanders. At least two protesters were
reported injured in a scuffle with some 100 riot
police, who wielded shields and rattan sticks.
Twenty-four Indonesian soldiers and one civilian
are being tried for allegedly massacring an
slamic teacher and more than 60 students in
Western Aceh last July. Labeled the "Bantaqiah
trial" after the teacher, Teungku Bantaqiah, the
high-profile case is the first civilian trial of
Indonesian soldiers accused of human rights
abuses.
The trial was adjourned after only an hour -- and
is scheduled to resume Saturday. The defendants
have not yet given their pleas.
The province of Aceh lies on the northern tip of
Indonesia's Sumatra island -- and is rich in oil
and gas reserves. Separatists from the "Free Aceh
Mveme" have been fightng or indepenene
since the 1970's.
/// REST OPT ///
The Indnsian government does not wan to let
Aceh go. In 1989 it began a decade long conte-
insur~enc patin aaint the "Free Aceh
Movement." Human rights groups say at least two
thousand people died or disappeared at the hands
of Indonesian soldiers during that time. Analysts
also say the military's repressive tactics have
done more to fuel the rebels than to crush them.
Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid says
ending separatist unrest in Aceh and other
provinces is a priority of his five month-old
administration. He has also pledged to rein in
the powers of the Indonesian military.
He has met with mixed success. Human rights
groups say at least 200 peple have died in Aceh
since February -- when troops launched a new
counter-insurgency operation against the
separatists.
But earlier this week the president removed the
police commander of the counter-insurgency
mission, because he is accused of committing
atrocities. (SIGNED)
NEB/PN/FC
19-Apr-2000 03:56 AM EDT (19-Apr-2000 0756 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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