Dili, 6 April 2000
Twelve new Timorese judges and prosecutors were sworn today by SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello at the District Court in Dili. Six judges, two investigating magistrates and four prosecutors were appointed following the recommendation by the Transitional Judicial Service Commission, headed by Bishop Basilio do Nascimento.
This is the second group of Timorese judges and prosecutors appointed to East Timor courts, with the first group of twelve appointed in January. One judge and one prosecutor are to take up their posts at the District Court in Oecussi, while the remaining ten judges and prosecutors have been appointed to the Baucau District Court. They will initially practice in Dili pending the renovations of the Baucau court building and the detention facility there.
In his address to the new judges and prosecutors, SRSG noted that their duty was to carry out their functions in accordance with their interpretation of applicable laws. In doing so, you shall not be influenced by any one. Your job is not to please a fraction of the public, but to execute the contents of the legislation and create justice in individual cases.
FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE WORST MILITIA MASSACRES
The massacre in Liquica ( West Of Dili) is completing, today, its first anniversary. On 6th of April 1999, members of the BMP Besi Merah Putih militia attacked the church compound. The day before the militia had killed five people in the outskirts of Liquica that made one thousand people to run to the church compound seeking protection.
The militia members attacked entire families - men, women and children - with firearms, machetes and knifes. The militiamen began the attack around one o clock in the afternoon after a conversation with Padre Rafael dos Santos. The priest refused to tell the militia where two CNRT leaders were hiding.
The precise number of people who died is still uncertain. The church gave a list with 61 names of people killed. But after hearing several witness the list came to 200 people missing. So far, twenty-three bodies from the massacre were exhumed by INTEFET, CIVPOL and UNTAET Human Rights experts. Most of the victims had been either shot or stabbed to death.
Today, in Liquica, Bishop Carlos Belo celebrated a mess in honor of the victims of the massacre. The CNRT leader Jose Ramos Horta attended the ceremony. The community will build a memorial for the victims.
SRSG INAUGURATES THE CENTRAL DRUGS PHARMACY
The East Timor Central Pharmacy Warehouse was opened in Dili today in a symbolic inauguration ceremony by the SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello and CNRT Vice-President Jose Ramos Horta.
The establishment of the warehouse is a result of a joined effort by UNTAET Interim Health Authority, UNICEF and GOAL, an international NGO. The first shipment of drugs worth US$670,000 was donated by a Japanese aid agency JICA.
Health is the light-motive of the Timorese civilians with whom I had been meeting in recent months, and it is encouraging for the East Timorese population that today we are establishing the first central facility of the new east Timorese administration, noted SRSG Vieira de Mello. He paid tribute to the East Timorese involved in the work of the Interim Health Authority and added that it represents one of the models for the new Timorese administration being driven by East Timorese.
The Central Pharmacy Warehouse will be the central distribution point for pharmaceuticals in East Timor and has a storage space for a six-month supply of medicine. Under the Interim Health Authority plan it will acquire about US$2 million worth of drugs and medical supplies each year.
