Dili, 22 November 2001

FOURTH CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY INDICTMENT FILED

The Office of East Timor’s General Prosecutor today filed its fourth Crimes Against Humanity indictment containing 18 charges related to the April 1999 Liquiça Church massacre.

The indictment was presented to Dili District Court’s Special Panel for Serious Crimes.

The indictment accuses 21 persons of committing crimes including murder, torture, prosecution, inhuman acts, forced deportation and extermination. The majority of the suspects, all of whom are at-large and presumed to be in Indonesia, were members of the Besi Merah Putih (Red White Iron) militia group.

Five of those indicted were officers in the Indonesian armed forces. Former Liquiça District Administrator Leoneto Martins and former Liquiça TNI District Commander Lieutenant Colonel Kusumawandi are among those named in the indictment.

At least 65 people are believed to have been murdered in the Liquiça Church by the TNI-backed militias after seeking sanctuary during the unrest that followed the February 1999 announcement of the options to be determined at the Popular Consultation later that year.

The Office of General Prosecutor has now filed a total of 33 Serious Crimes indictments, four of which allege Crimes Against Humanity.

MORE THAN 300 NOMINATED AS RECONCILIATION COMMISSIONERS

More than 300 people from throughout East Timor have been nominated by their communities to sit on the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation.

“The sheer number of nominations that we have received from the public…shows us that communities are fully supportive of the process and will be engaged at every level to take the process of truth-seeking and reconciliation forward,” Francisco Amaral, the secretary of the Selection Panel, said.

The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation will undertake two primary functions. It will establish a truth-seeking function inquiring into the pattern of human rights violations committed within the context of the political conflicts in East Timor between 1974-1999. The Commission will also create a community reconciliation body to facilitate agreements between local communities and the perpetrators of non-serious crimes and non-criminal acts committed over the same period. This will free up East Timor’s criminal justice system to concentrate its limited resources on perpetrators responsible for the most serious crimes.

The Selection Panel – which visited each of East Timor’s 13 districts to solicit nominations – is currently drawing up a shortlist from the 95 nominations received for the 5-7 National Commissioner posts. The panel will then recommend their choices to be appointed by Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello next month.

Once installed, the National Commissioners will select 25-30 District Commissioners from among the 219 nominations received by the Selection Panel. The panel may also make additional nominations itself, pending further consultation with communities throughout the country.

The panel also conducted consultations in West Timor, with meetings in Kupang, Kefamenanu and Atambua, Indonesia, organized by local NGO and Church groups working directly with refugee communities. Following meetings with pro-autonomy leaders, the panel received nominations for Commissioners from pro-autonomy groups.

“Those we spoke to in West Timor applauded the idea of the Commission, especially as it will be looking at human rights violations from 1974-99 in an independent manner,” Amaral said.