Jakarta reverses convictions for East Timor abuses

Four security officers charged with crimes against humanity during the East Timor massacres in 1999 have had their convictions…

Four security officers charged with crimes against humanity during the East Timor massacres in 1999 have had their convictions quashed by the Indonesian appeals court.

The decision means that all police and military officers indicted by the ad hoc Indonesian human rights tribunal on East Timor have walked free.

Local militia gangs backed by elements in the Indonesian military are blamed for much of the carnage, during which the United Nations estimates some 1,000 people were killed.

The court also reportedly halved a 10-year sentence on militia leader Mr Eurico Guterres.

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Appeals in Indonesia are decided in closed-door sessions and no public announcement was made of the acquittals. The judges who presided over the appeals could not be reached for comment, but judges who handed down the previous verdicts said they were baffled.

"There is now a question mark on why our decision was overturned," judge Mr Binsar Goeltom said.

The four acquitted men - a major-general, two lieutenant-colonels and a police commissioner - were convicted by the Jakarta human rights court in 2002 and 2003. They had been allowed to remain out of jail pending their appeals.

Major-General Adam Damiri, who received three years in jail last year, was commander of the region that included East Timor at the time of the violence and the top general to be tried.

Damiri was the last of 18 people to be tried by the court, which has acquitted most suspects and handed out lenient sentences to those convicted, drawing widespread criticism from international and local human rights groups.

Besides militia leader Guterres, only Indonesia's last East Timor governor Mr Abilio Soares, has had his conviction upheld.

Prosecutors can still challenge the latest rulings by appealing to the Supreme Court.

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