DEFENDANTS WALK OUT AS FBI AGENTS TESTIFY AT

UNCLAS JAKARTA 011342 SIPDIS SIPDIS FBI PLS PASS TO CTD/ITOS I, CTD/ITOS II, GOU SECSTATE FOR EAP/MTS AND DS/DSS, DS/IP/EAP, DS/EAP/ITA, AND CA/OCS/ACS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC CASC KJUS ID SUBJECT: DEFENDANTS WALK OUT AS FBI AGENTS TESTIFY AT TIMIKA TRIAL REF: A. JAKARTA 11145 AMCITS TESTIFY AT TIMIKA TRIAL ¶B. JAKARTA 10704 WITNESS TESTIMONY IN TIMIKA TRIAL TO BEGIN ¶C. JAKARTA 8958 TIMIKA TRIAL OPENS ¶1. (U) The defendants and their attorneys walked out of the courtroom in protest as FBI Special Agents Ron Eowan and Paul Myers gave testimony at the September 12 session of the trial of seven men accused of killing two amcits in Timka, Papua in ¶2002. As Eowan was taking the witness stand, defendant Ishak Onawame gave a statement claiming that the FBI agents had tricked them into discussing the case with them and requesting that the judge disallow them from testifying. The statement elicited shouts of support from the other defendants and from observers in the courtroom. Chief Judge Nurdin overruled the request and stated that anyone opposed to allowing the agents to testify could leave the courtroom. In response, the defendants and their attorneys walked out of the session, and lead defense attorney Johnson Panjaitan gave a press conference outside the room as the witnesses gave their testimony. Johnson stated to the journalists present that there was a prior agreement to allow all the victims to testify before other witnesses were brought in, and that this was the basis for his protest as several Indonesian victims had yet to testify. ¶2. (U) During their testimony, Eowan and Myers introduced several videos into evidence. Two of the videos show weapons believed to have been used in the attack. Another shows Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) guerrilla leader Kelly Kwalik stating that while he did not order the Timika attack, it was carried out by men under his command. A third video was a clip from a foreign news program in which defendant Antonius Wamang confesses his involvement in the attack to a journalist. Eowan and Myers then went on to describe a series of meetings held with the defendants between December 2003 and March 2004 in which several of the defendants confessed their roles in the attack. According to Eowan, Wamang stated that he originally planned an explosive attack on the road from Timika to Tembagapura in order to disrupt the activities of the Freeport Mining Company, which the defendants claimed was displacing Amungme families. However, Wamang told Eowan that he lacked expertise with explosives and so decided to stage an attack on the Indonesian military forces (TNI) assigned to protect Freeport instead. According to Eowan's testimony, Wamang said that they attacked the civilian vehicles by mistake. Eowan said that Wamang confessed to the FBI because he was under pressure from his community to make clear that the intended target of the attack was the TNI, not civilians, but that he was afraid to speak to the Indonesian police. Since the defense was not present in the courtroom, there was no cross-examination of witnesses. ¶3. (U) After the testimony of the two agents, the Judge adjourned the court until September 15, when ballistics expert Brett Mills will testify. Two Indonesian victims are also expected to testify. Both translators are expected to be present at the September 15 session. PASCOE