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(New York) The Indonesian government should remove from its military campaign in Aceh officers responsible for gross human rights violations in Indonesia and East Timor, Human Rights Watch said today in a briefing paper.

The briefing paper, “Aceh Under Martial Law: Can These Men Be Trusted to Prosecute This War?” focuses on four current and two former Indonesian military officers reportedly involved in the current war in Aceh. All have committed serious human rights violations in Indonesia or, during the abusive Indonesian military campaign in 1999, in East Timor.

“The deployment of known human rights violators in the military operation in Aceh shows that Indonesia is not serious in its claim that it is cleaning up its armed forces,” said Saman Zia-Zarifi, deputy director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. “If Indonesia wants to demonstrate that its military is no longer a brutal force, it should make sure that troops fighting in Aceh follow the rules of war and are disciplined if they fail to abide by them.”

Human Rights Watch specifically called for the removal from Aceh of:

  • Major General Adam Damiri – currently Operational Assistant to the Armed Forces Chief of Staff; convicted of crimes against humanity in East Timor by Jakarta’s ad hoc court on East Timor and sentenced to three years in prison.
  • Brigadier General Suhartono Suratman – currently Deputy Armed Forces Spokesman; indicted by the U.N.-created Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999.
  • Major General Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin – currently Armed Forces Spokesman. Implicated in the crackdown against the May 1998 demonstrations in Jakarta; closely linked to gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.
  • Major General Kiki Syahnakri – officially retired, but advising the Indonesian armed forces on the martial law administration for Aceh; indicted by the U.N. Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999.
  • Colonel Gerhan Lentara – currently Commander of Teungku Umar Korem, Banda Aceh; Martial Law Commander of Dili region of East Timor during a period when 250,000 East Timorese were forcibly expelled from East Timor to Indonesia in September 1999.
  • Lieutenant Colonel Sujono - current position and whereabouts unknown, but has been sighted in Aceh; charged with participation in the Bantaqiah massacre of religious teacher Tengku Bantaqiah and 53 of his students in West Aceh on July 23, 1999; disappeared from police custody prior to his trial.

Human Rights Watch welcomed Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s recent statements on Aceh to the Armed Forces reminding soldiers to execute their duties “as well as possible, in a measured way, and not in an excessive way.”

Human Rights Watch called on President Megawati and General Endriartono Sutarto, commander of the Indonesian armed forces, to match this rhetoric and remove abusive troops from the campaign in Aceh and subject them to appropriate criminal or administrative sanctions.

“Reform of the military must include accountability within the armed forces,” said Zia-Zarifi. “Indonesia must place the military squarely under civilian control.”

Human Rights Watch also urged the international community, particularly the “Quartet,” a diplomatic group composed of the United States, the European Union, Japan and the World Bank, that was previously involved in negotiations to maintain the peace in Aceh, to urge that these officers be immediately removed from involvement in Aceh. Human Rights Watch also called on the international community to cease providing military assistance to the Indonesian armed forces, based on the past record of abuse by the military and the current deployment of known abusers in the campaign in Aceh.

The current Indonesian military offensive in Aceh began on May 19 after a six-month ceasefire failed to resolve the longstanding conflict in the province. The Aceh offensive is Indonesia’s largest military campaign since the country’s invasion of East Timor in 1975.

Since the start of the military operation, the Indonesian government has severely limited the flow of information from Aceh. The government has interfered with the ability of local journalists to cover the war. It has denied access to Aceh to almost all diplomats, independent international observers, and international human rights organizations. It has also severely restricted access to United Nations and non-governmental humanitarian agencies and the foreign media.

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