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Notorious Timor militia leader jailed
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Notorious East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres has been jailed for 10 years by a court in Jakarta after being found guilty of crimes against humanity. Guterres, leader of the feared pro-Indonesian Aitarak militia, was jailed for inciting supporters to carry out a massacre of pro-independence supporters in April 1999 -- shortly before East Timor voted in a referendum on independence from Indonesia. "The judges find the defendant guilty of grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity, and sentence him to 10 years in jail," said Judge Herman Hutapea. The judge said that in a speech on April 7, 1999 Guterres had instructed hundreds of his militiamen to kill pro-independence leaders. Shortly afterwards a mob of pro-Jakarta supporters murdered 12 people at the home of independence activist Manuel Carascalo in the East Timorese capital, Dili. Guterres is the best known of the militia leaders recruited by the Indonesian military to hunt down and intimidate pro-independence supporters in the runup to the U.N.-sponsored vote on East Timor's independence. The sentence is the harshest yet handed down in a series of trials of officials, militia leaders and military officers accused of carrying out or inciting human rights abuses in East Timor. Guterres is only the second of 18 suspects so far bought to trial to have been found guilty. 'A sham'
Several other senior police and military officers have been acquitted of all charges -- much to the anger of human rights groups who have labeled the Indonesian justice system a sham. During the trial prosecutors had demanded that Guterres be imprisoned for 10 years -- the stated minimum punishment under Indonesian law. He could have faced the death penalty. The United Nations, which supervised East Timor's subsequent transition to independence, has blamed senior elements of the Indonesian military and their associated militias for carrying out the 1999 violence. An estimated 2,000 people died in the violence and more than 250,000 were forced to flee their homes. East Timor eventually gained full independence in May this year, but remains one of the world's poorest countries struggling to rebuild after the destruction of 1999. Before his trial began Guterres told reporters he was resigned to a guilty verdict and would appeal. The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.
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