(New York) - Indonesia must hand over indicted Indonesian officials to the joint U.N.-East Timor court responsible for prosecuting organizers of the atrocities committed in 1999, Human Rights Watch said today. The international community should call on Jakarta to extradite all indicted Indonesian officials for trial in Dili.
In a bold step forward, the East Timor Serious Crimes Unit filed an indictment on February 24, charging the East Timor 8--four Indonesian generals, three colonels, and the former governor of East Timor-with crimes against humanity. The charges include murder, arson, destruction of property and forced relocation. The indictment covers crimes committed before and after East Timor's referendum on independence in August 1999. The accused include former Indonesian Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Commander General Wiranto. All of the suspects are believed to be in Indonesia.
"This is the first genuine attempt to hold senior officials accountable for the organized violence in 1999," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch. "The big test now will be whether Indonesia is prepared to arrest those indictees in Indonesia and send them to Dili for trial. This will require a fundamental change in Indonesia's attitude towards justice for East Timor."
Just how difficult this will be was demonstrated by the reaction of Indonesia's current Foreign Affairs Minister, Hasan Wirajuda, who said the government would "simply ignore" the indictments.
In September 1999, the Indonesian military and pro-Jakarta Timorese militias went on a campaign of murder, arson and forced expulsion after the people of East Timor voted for independence in a United Nations administered referendum. An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 East Timorese civilians lost their lives in the months before, and days immediately after, the voting. Approximately 500,000 people were forced from their homes or fled to seek refuge.
Indonesia's own efforts to bring high-ranking perpetrators to justice in a parallel ad hoc judicial process in Jakarta have been a failure. Thus far, Indonesia has failed to cooperate with the Serious Crimes Unit, making the work of the Unit much more difficult.
"Indonesia has failed to investigate, much less prosecute and convict, the people who organized and planned the attacks in 1999," said Adams. "The Attorney General's office even ignored the recommendations of its own national human rights commission that General Wiranto should be put on trial."
Human Rights Watch said this failure has placed the burden for a genuine accounting on the Serious Crimes Unit.
"The Serious Crimes Unit should be commended for doing what it was created to do: follow the evidence and indict the people alleged to be most responsible for the East Timor atrocities," said Adams.
Human Rights Watch renewed its call for the U.N. Secretary-General to commission a report by a group of experts to examine all options for justice for East Timor, including examining the Jakarta trial process, looking at mechanisms for extradition and trials of key suspects, and considering ways to strengthen the Serious Crimes Unit's capacity to continue its investigations and prosecutions. With the Jakarta process due to finish next month, the burden of accountability will be left with the unit and East Timor unless the United Nations acts to establish another mechanism.
"More than ever, continued U.N. involvement and donor support for the process in Dili will be crucial," said Adams. "The East Timorese government has neither the resources nor the political clout to successfully prosecute senior Indonesian generals by itself. The international community must push Jakarta to fully cooperate with the United Nations."
Human Rights Watch stressed the obligations of the United Nations and its member states to stay engaged with the Dili process. The unit must be allowed to fully complete the task given by Security Council Resolution 1272, which demanded that those responsible for the 1999 violence be brought to justice.
