East Timor army chief jailed for five years for atrocities

An Indonesian court sentenced a former army chief in East Timor to five years in jail yesterday for crimes against humanity. He is the highest-ranking officer convicted over the territory's bloody 1999 independence vote.

The court said Brigadier General Noer Moeis, who took control of Indonesia's 10,000 troops in East Timor two weeks before the independence ballot, did nothing to stop the violence triggered by the landslide vote to break from 24 years of Jakarta's rule.

Human rights groups, which have criticised the trials of 18 suspects under a special court and the many acquittals so far, said yesterday's verdict was an attempt to show the international community that justice was being done.

Adriani Nurdin, the presiding judge, told the court: "The TNI [military] must have known that pro-integration supporters would attack those for independence and the defendant did not make an effort ... to prevent this. Noer Moeis ... is guilty of carrying out crimes against humanity and is sentenced to five years' jail."

The United Nations estimates that 1,000 people were killed in the weeks before and after the UN-sponsored poll. Most of the victims were independence supporters killed by pro-Jakarta militias.

Prosecutors had demanded a 10-year jail term for Moeis, who was a colonel at the time of the killings. The crime carries the maximum penalty of death. Moeis told reporters he would appeal.

About 10 low-ranking military officers attended the trial in the central Jakarta court, which was only half-full. Most of those present were reporters and television crews.

Two security force officers and two civilians out of 15 suspects to have received verdicts before Moeis have been convicted. Those verdicts are subject to appeal. The lack of convictions and relatively light sentences have led to criticism that Jakarta is not taking the trials seriously.

Hendardi, head of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, said: "[Today's] sentence was part of a scenario to give an image to the international community that there are actually sentences [being handed down]."

The United States cut off military ties with Indonesia in response to the violence in East Timor and has said a full account of what happened was necessary before relations could be restored.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was run by the United Nations after the independence vote until May last year, when it became independent. (Reuters)