Military

DATE=11/29/2002

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDONESIA/TIMOR (L-Only)

NUMBER=2-296942

BYLINE=KATHERINE MARIA

DATELINE=HONG KONG

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Indonesia's human rights court has acquitted four men on charges of crimes against humanity in East Timor. Katherine Maria reports from our Asia News Center.

TEXT: The tribunal's judges Friday declared three of the men innocent of charges related to a militia attack on a church in April 1999. At least 22 people were killed in the attack.

Army Lieutenant Colonel Asep Kuswani, police Lieutenant Colonel Adios Salova and district head Leonita Martins were senior officials in the East Timor town of Liquica. They would have faced 10-year prison sentences, if they had been convicted.

The same court earlier acquitted Army Lieutenant Colonel Endar Priyanto, who was charged in connection with an attack on the house of an East Timorese independence leader. About a dozen died in that attack.

Only two civilians have so far been found guilty in connection with violence in East Timor that took place in the run-up to and aftermath of the 1999 independence vote. The overwhelming majority of residents chose to break from Jakarta's rule.

Ten other suspects, all former members of the military or police, have walked free.

Indonesia's two main military heads at the time of the bloodshed have not been put on trial.

The United Nations estimates more than a thousand people were killed during the violence. Pro-Jakarta militias rampaged throughout the territory, leveling much of it. Human rights groups say, in some cases, the Indonesian military took part in the violence.

Indonesia annexed the former Portuguese colony in the 1970's. Rebels fought a long guerrilla war against Indonesia, until the United Nations organized the independence vote. (Signed)

NEB/HK/KM/KPD/TW