|
Irian Jaya Separatist Leaders' Trial Starts
by Kazi Mahmood for IslamOnline
JAKARTA, May 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A court in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, on Monday opened the trial of two separatist activists charged with sedition amid tight security in the troubled province.
The Antara news agency reported that State prosecutor Muhammad Erwin Noer read out charges for one hour, accusing Theys Eluay and Don Al Flassy of plotting to undermine the government by setting up an independent state of West Papua.
Eluay heads the Papuan Presidium Council, which pressed for an independence referendum in the province. Flessy is a senior member of the same group.
There are no indications that other members of the group would be charged on the same grounds. The two were arrested during a short-lived stand off with the Indonesian military and Police in the province late last year.
Cases against three other activists - Taha Alhamid, John Mambor and the Christian minister Herman Awom - could not be heard because one of the defendants was ill.
Indonesia's government is divided on whether to bring Eluay and Flessy to court, or to release them after months of detention. President Abdurrahman Wahid opposed the release of the "rebels", saying they should be punished for their crimes.
Families of the detained Papuan leaders appealed to both Wahid and his cabinet members for the release of the jailed leaders, but their pleas were not entertained.
Sources in Jakarta said the case would be a landmark case in Irian Jaya, aimed at silencing rebellion and separatist movements in the province.
Pro-independence Irianese elements do not possess guns and other artilleries the like of which the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has in its possession in Aceh.
The Irianese used spears and bows and arrows to oppose the military at a December 1st independence rally quelled by heavy military deployment throughout the province.
On Monday, the accused arrived at Jayapura District Court accompanied by a team of lawyers, as dozens of supporters packed the building.
Many were dressed in black military fatigues and T-shirts embroidered with separatist symbols, while dozens of security forces stood guard in and around the courthouse Antara reported.
Under the sedition laws, considered to be outdated by several observers in Jakarta, the defendants could be imprisoned for a maximum of 20 years if found guilty.
During the two-hour hearing, Eluay described himself as a "Papuan citizen and a temporary Indonesian citizen."
Judge Edward Sinaga adjourned the court until May 21st to hear defense arguments after lawyers for the defendants asked the court to continue the hearing next week.
Insurgents in Irian Jaya have been fighting for independence since the 1950s. The movement gained momentum when a U.N.-organized ballot resulted in independence for another disputed territory formerly under Indonesian control, East Timor in 1999.
Dozens of people have been killed in the last year in clashes between rebels and security forces.
The rebels claim widespread popular support among native Papuans, who are poorer than immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.
Wahid has offered Irian Jaya, on the western half of New Guinea island, greater autonomy and a fairer share of the wealth generated from its vast natural resources.
He has, however, ruled out independence.
|
