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Indonesian Army Officer Indicted For Murder, Torture In East Timor
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - An Indonesian army officer was among 11 accused when the first indictment for crimes against humanity was filed in East Timor on Monday, the United Nations said.
The prosecutor general of East Timor filed the indictment, including 13 counts of murder and charges of torture and deportation, with a district court in the capital, Dili, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
He said the court's special panel for serious crimes would immediately issue a warrant for the arrest of Lieutenant Sayful Anwar, former deputy commander of Indonesian Special Forces in the town of Los Palos.
The panel comprises two international and one Timorese judge and is expected to start hearing pre-trial litigation early next year.
Most of the accused were members of Team Alfa, one of the militia groups violently opposed to East Timor's four-to-one vote for independence in a referendum organized by the United Nations on August 30, 1999.
The group was suspected of a number of killings, including the ambush and murder on September 25, 1999, of a group of clergy, church workers, a journalist and youth near Los Palos, on the easternmost tip of East Timor.
Anwar was charged with the mutilation, torture and murder of Averisto Lopes on April 21, 1999, at Team Alfa's base.
The militia's de facto commander, Joni Marques, is among nine accused who are being held in prisons in East Timor, Eckhard said.
One of the militia members, Mautersa Moniz, is still at large, he said.
The group was also charged with the deportation and forcible transfer of the civilian population of Leuro village, in the Los Palos district, to the base housing Indonesian army battalion 745, to the port of Com, or to West Timor.
The U.N. Human Rights Commission has recommended setting an international tribunal to try people accused of crimes against humanity committed before and after the referendum.
The U.N. Security Council has yet to act on the recommendation, preferring to allow Indonesia to complete its own investigations.
U.N. officials here said they expected the 11 accused to be tried by the Dili district court's special panel.
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