POSO CHRISTIANS CONVICTED IN 2006 KILLINGS OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 002101 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, S/CT, INL FOR BOULDIN DOJ FOR CRIM AAG SWARTZ, DOJ/OPDAT FOR LEHMANN/ALEXANDRE/BERMAN DOJ/CTS FOR MULLANEY, ST HILAIRE FBI FOR ETTUI/SSA ROTH NCTC WASHDC E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2016 TAGS: PTER PGOV KJUS ASEC CASC ID SUBJECT: POSO CHRISTIANS CONVICTED IN 2006 KILLINGS OF MUSLIMS REF: A. JAKARTA 1817 ¶B. JAKARTA 1050 ¶C. JAKARTA 826 ¶D. 06 JAKARTA 12100 Classified By: POL/C Joseph Legend Novak, for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: A Jakarta court has found 17 men from Poso in Central Sulawesi guilty of terrorism in the killings of two Muslims in September 2006. The 17 are the first Christians to be convicted under the GOI's Anti-Terrorism Law. The convictions should help the GOI defend itself against allegations from radical Muslim groups that the authorities only target Muslims. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) AN ANTI-TERROR FIRST: On July 26, a Jakarta court found 17 men from Poso region, Central Sulawesi in central Indonesia, guilty of terrorism in the killings of two Muslims in September 2006 (ref B). The 17 are the first Christians to be convicted under Indonesia's Anti-Terrorism Law of 2003. Within the construct of the turbulent communal situation in Poso, the killings were a reaction to the execution of three Christians convicted of murder for their role in a series of attacks on Muslims during the 1999-2001 timeframe (Ref D). The cases were successfully prosecuted by members of the USG-supported Attorney General's Task Force on Terrorism and Transnational Crime. ¶3. (U) SENTENCING: Judges in the South Jakarta District Court found all 17 men guilty of violating article 6 of the 2003 law. The ringleaders of the group, Harpri Tumonggi and Edwin Poima, received sentences of 14 years each. Ten other defendants who were directly involved in the attack received sentences of 12 years. The other five men, who were involved in the disposal of the bodies but not the original attack, received 8 years. The sentences handed out by the judges were approximately one-third lower than the sentences requested by prosecutors (Ref A). (Note: Embassy contacts generally view the one-third reduction as routine.) The 14-year sentences imposed on the ringleaders are identical to those given to two of the three Poso Muslims convicted of terrorism earlier this year for their role in the 2005 Christian schoolgirl beheadings (Ref C). ¶4. (SBU) In their decisions, the judges stated that the sentences were intended both to punish the perpetrators for their actions and to send a message to the larger community. They also cited several mitigating factors in the decision, including the fact that all 17 men admitted their involvement and expressed regret for their actions, and that none of them had had any prior criminal history. ¶5. (C) DEFLECTING CRITICISM: The convictions should help the GOI defend itself against oft-repeated allegations from radical Muslim groups that Indonesian authorities are unfairly targeting the country's Muslim population. Attorneys for the Muslim Defense Team ("TPM" -- a group that often defends extremists) complained to the press during recent trials that the Anti-terror Law was being used exclusively against Muslims, and that law enforcement officials in Poso and Jakarta were unfairly targeting Poso's Muslim community. A class action lawsuit recently filed by Jemaah Islamiyah spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir against the Indonesian National Police's elite Anti-terror unit makes a similar claim (septel). HUME