Indonesia: An Indonesian court yesterday sentenced a former army chief in East Timor to five years in jail for crimes against humanity.
He is the highest-ranking officer convicted over the territory's bloody 1999 independence vote.
The court said Brig-Gen Noer Moeis, who took control of Indonesia's 10,000 troops in East Timor two weeks before the independence ballot, did nothing to stop the violence triggered by the landslide vote to break from 24 years of Jakarta rule.
Rights groups, which have criticised the trials of 18 suspects under a special human rights court and the numerous acquittals so far, said yesterday's verdict was an attempt to show the international community that justice was being done.
"The TNI (military) must have known that pro-integration supporters would attack those for independence and the defendant did not make an effort . . . to prevent this," presiding judge Adriani Nurdin told the court. "Noer Moeis . . . is guilty of carrying out crimes against humanity and is sentenced to five years' jail."
The United Nations estimates that 1,000 people were killed in the lead-up to and after the vote. Most victims were independence supporters killed by pro-Jakarta militias.
Prosecutors had demanded a 10-year jail term for Moeis, a colonel when the alleged crimes took place. The crime carries the maximum penalty of death. Moeis said he would appeal.
About 10 low-ranking military officers attended the trial in the central Jakarta court, which was only half-full. Most of those present were reporters and television crews.
Two security force officers and two civilians out of 15 suspects to have received verdicts prior to Moeis have been convicted. Those verdicts are subject to appeal. The lack of convictions and relatively light sentences have led to criticism that Jakarta is not taking the trials seriously.
"Today's sentence was part of a scenario to give an image to the international community that there are actually sentences [being handed down]," the head of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association said. - (Reuters)