Military

DATE=02/25/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDONESIA/TIMOR INDICTMENTS (LONG)

NUMBER=2-300014

BYLINE=PATRICIAN NUNAN

DATELINE=JAKARTA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United Nations has indicted eight current and former

Indonesian officials on charges of crimes against humanity during the

run-up to the independence of East Timor. As Patricia Nunan reports

from Jakarta, Indonesian officials promptly said they would ignore the

indictments.

Text: Human rights groups have consistently claimed that the violence

that devastated East Timor, before and after its 1999 vote for

independence from Indonesia, was orchestrated by Indonesian military

officials. Today's indictments, announced by the United Nations in the

East Timor capital Dili, support those claims.

Stuart Alford is a prosecutor in Dili with the U-N serious crimes unit.

Mr. Alford says the unit's two-year investigation proved that the

devastation took place with the support and participation of senior

officials of the Indonesian military - also known by the initials T-N-I.

/// ALFORD ACT ///

It was a T-N-I-supported and directed operation. And senior T-N-I

officers were responsible personally, individually in the establishment

of militia groups, in the funding, training, arming and directing those

militia groups for the participation of crimes.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Alford says prosecutors will petition Indonesia's government to

issue arrest warrants for the accused.

But Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, speaking at the

Non-Aligned Movement summit in Malaysia several hours after the

indictments were announced, said his government would "simply ignore"

them. Mr. Wirayuda questioned the United Nations'

authority to return indictments against Indonesians.

Seven senior military officers and an ex-governor were charged with

crimes against humanity, for participating in the establishment of the

militia groups that opposed independence, and for acts the militias

committed while under military command. The announcement said murder,

deportation and persecution were part of a "widespread and systematic"

attack against East Timorese who supported independence.

The names listed on the indictment read like a Who's Who of Indonesia's

military brass: Former Defense Minister and Armed Forces chief General

Wiranto; the officer who oversaw martial law in East Timor, Major

General Kiki Syahnakri, and the special teams commander, Major General

Zacky Anwar Makarim.

Also indicted were four regional military commanders, Major General Adam

Damiri and Colonels Tono Suratman, Noer Muis and Sudrajat. The one

civilian on the list is East Timor's former Jakarta-appointed governor,

Abilio Soares.

Hundreds of people were killed in East Timor in 1999, before and after

the independence referendum supervised by the United Nations. A

quarter-million more were forced out or fled to refugee camps in the

Indonesian province of West Timor. Much of the violence was committed

by the militias.

Despite the bloodshed, the vote for independence was overwhelming.

After two years under U-N administration, East Timor became the world's

newest nation last May.

Indonesia has set up its own tribunal to consider war crimes allegedly

committed in East Timor, but the tribunal has been criticized for

failing to take strong action.

One of the few individuals convicted is former Governor Soares. He was

sentenced to three years out of a possible ten for crimes against

humanity, a sentence that critics charge is too lenient for such a

crime. He is currently free on appeal. (Signed)

NEB/HK/PN/BK