[Marxism] Anniversary of East Timor Church Massacre

["Clinton Fernandes" <cfer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Anniversary of East Timor Church Massacre

April 6 - On the sixth anniversary of the massacres at the Catholic Church
in Liquica, East Timor, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) urged the
international community to heed East Timorese cries for justice.

"The international community must keep its commitment to the victims of
this and other horrific crimes committed in East Timor," said John M.
Miller, spokesperson for ETAN. "We must continue to pursue accountability
for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide committed during
Indonesia's illegal occupation of East Timor between 1975 and 1999."

The anniversary comes as the UN Commission of Experts (COE) is visiting now
independent East Timor to evaluate existing judicial processes and propose
next steps to hold accountable those responsible for serious crimes in East
Timor in 1999. The Commission is to evaluate temporary courts set up in
both Indonesia and East Timor to try serious crimes committed in East Timor
1999, neither of which has been able to hold any higher-level perpetrators
accountable. The government of Indonesia is refusing to allow the COE to
enter Indonesia.

"We urge the COE to listen carefully to the victims and explore all
possibilities, including an international criminal tribunal. In February
2000, UN Secretary-General stood in the Liquica church yard and called for
'justice to prevail over impunity.' The COE must find ways to fulfill that
pledge," Miller said.

"The UN must not tolerate a double standard of justice, where only
low-level East Timorese militia members are convicted and their Indonesian
masters escape with impunity, going on to organize similar crimes in Aceh,
West Papua and elsewhere," he added.

Several Indonesian officers accused of failing to prevent the Liquica
massacre were tried in Jakarta but acquitted. Only one East Timorese has
been convicted in East Timor's Special Panels court for his involvement in
the massacre; many other Indonesians and East Timorese indicted for this
massacre and other crimes remain free in Indonesia.

"Indonesia and East Timor recently established a Commission of Truth and
Friendship, which is intended to preempt the work of the Commission of
Experts and block any effective steps toward accountability and justice.
The truth of what happened in 1999 is well-established: Indonesian
officials - working with militia they created, funded and directed -
committed heinous crimes, including more than a thousand murders, in a
systematic campaign to terrorize and destroy East Timor. The organizers and
perpetrators of the violence are well-known," said Miller.

Background

On April 6, 1999, hundreds of East Timorese and Indonesian militia,
soldiers and police attacked several thousand refugees sheltering in the
Catholic church in Liquica, after slaughtering several civilians nearby the
day before. According to an unpublished report commissioned by the United
Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the attack left
up to 60 people dead, although the precise death toll is still unknown. The
refugees had sought shelter in the churchyard from earlier militia attacks.

According to the report, "The systematic disposal of corpses... [t]ogether
with the substantial evidence of TNI [Indonesian military] and Police
involvement in the massacre itself, the presence of key officials at the
scene of the crime, and the responsibility of those officials for creating
and coordinating the BMP [militia],... makes it a virtual certainty that
the Liquica church massacre was planned by high-ranking TNI and civilian
authorities."

All of the security officials tried in Indonesia's Ad Hoc Human Rights
Court for their involvement in the massacre and other crimes were acquitted
either at trial or on appeal, including police chief Timbul Silaen,
regional military commander General Adam Damiri and East Timor military
commander Tono Suratman.

In November 2001, the UN-funded Serious Crimes Unit indicted nine
Indonesian officers and 12 local militia for the massacre. All are believed
to be in Indonesia, and INTERPOL has issued arrest warrants for them. The
massacre is also cited in a wide ranging indictment issued in 2003 accusing
General Wiranto, former Indonesian defence minister, and other senior
officials of crimes against humanity throughout East Timor in 1999. The SCU
in Dili convicted and jailed one militia member, who had been indicted
separately of three murders, including one during the massacre.

Last month, the governments of Indonesia and East Timor agreed to establish
a Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF). The Commission will include
people from both countries and is to establish a "shared historical record"
of the violations of human rights before and after East Timor's
independence ballot in 1999, recommend amnesty for those who "cooperate
fully," and propose people-to-people reconciliation efforts.

Indonesian and East Timorese NGOs and international human rights groups
have strongly criticized the CTF, fearing that it will institutionalize
impunity and is not capable of identifying perpetrators. The NGOs charged
that the two governments have "disregarded demands for justice made by
victims of serious human rights violations that occurred in East Timor in
1999" and called the CTF's terms of reference "appalling."

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and brutally occupied the territory
until October 1999. The international community never recognized
Indonesia's claim, and approximately 200,000 East Timorese were killed as a
result of the Indonesian occupation.

In 1999, Indonesia agreed to a UN-administered referendum on East Timor's
political status. After the referendum, in which East Timorese people voted
overwhelmingly for independence, Indonesian security forces and the militia
they controlled laid waste to the territory, displacing three-quarters of
the population, murdering approximately 1400 civilians, and destroying more
than 75% of the buildings and infrastructure.

The Security Council established the Serious Crimes Unit in Dili to conduct
investigations and prepare indictments to assist in bringing to justice
those responsible for crimes against humanity and other serious crimes
committed in East Timor in 1999. It also created hybrid
Timorese-international Special Panel courts to try these cases. The SCU
filed its final indictments late last year. Approximately 76% of the nearly
400 people indicted by the SCU are living free in Indonesia, which has
refused to honor its promise to cooperate with the Serious Crimes process.

No judicial process has yet been established to investigate and prosecute
those responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
prior to 1999, when more than 99% of the deaths resulting from the
Indonesian military occupation took place.

ETAN advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for East Timor and
Indonesia.

-30-


East Timor Action Network: 12 Years for Self-Determination & Justice

48 Duffield St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668 Fax: (718)222-4097
Mobile phone: (917)690-4391
Web site: http://www.etan.org
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