Arrest warrant for East Timor militia leader submitted to Indonesia: UN
11 October --Indonesian authorities have received an arrest warrant for East Timorese militia leader Enrico Guterres for his involvement in two massacres last year, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) said today.
The arrest warrant, the first to be issued in connection with last year's post-referendum violence, was submitted simultaneously to the head of the Indonesian Diplomatic Mission in Dili and the Indonesian Attorney General in Jakarta yesterday afternoon, according to the UN mission.
The warrant, which was signed by an investigating judge of the Special Panel for Serious Criminal Offences at the District Court in Dili, relates to Mr. Guterres' involvement in massacres in Liquica and Dili, UNTAET said. The first concerns an attack on 6 April 1999 by militia groups against 2,000 people who sought shelter on the grounds of Liquica Church. Eyewitnesses who survived that massacre estimated that at least 150 people were killed, although an official Indonesian Police inquiry put the death toll at five.
Ten days later, on 16 April 1999, Mr. Guterres is reported to have led a mob of militia to the house of pro-independence leader Manuel Carrascalão. The group attacked the house and killed 12 people, according to UNTAET.
The Secretary-General's Special Representative for East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello, has requested the Attorney General to ensure that the competent Indonesian authorities enforce the warrant, and that Guterres be surrendered so that he can face justice in East Timor.
