EAST TIMOR EX-MILITIA LEADER ACQUITTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000702

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, DRL, DRL/AWH
NSC FOR EPHU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2018
TAGS: PGOV KJUS PREL ID TT
SUBJECT: EAST TIMOR EX-MILITIA LEADER ACQUITTED

REF: A. JAKARTA 672


B. JAKARTA 619

C. JAKARTA 405 AND PREVIOUS

JAKARTA 00000702 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On April 4, the Indonesian Supreme Court
announced the acquittal of Eurico Guterres, a former militia
leader, for human rights crimes committed in East Timor in
1999 (per an earlier court ruling, Guterres had been jailed
for his crimes). Guterres was released from jail on April 7.
Human rights advocates criticized the Supreme Court's
action, which was a setback for accountability. END SUMMARY.

SUPREME REVERSAL


2. (U) On April 4, the Supreme Court announced its decision
to exonerate Guterres of all charges against him for 1999
violence in East Timor. Guterres was released from Cipinang
prison, east Jakarta, at 9:20 p.m. on April 7. The former
deputy commander of a pro-integration militia was one of 18
military, police, and militia leaders tried in a 2002 ad hoc
Human Rights Court for human rights violations committed in
East Timor. Of the 18 tried, Guterres is the only one of two
persons to have served jail time. Twelve were acquitted in
2002 by the Human Rights Court and six, including just now
Guterres, were eventually acquitted by either an appellate
court (one case) or the Supreme Court. In addition to being
acquitted, the Supreme Court also ordered that Guterres
receive rehabilitation and compensation for his time in jail,
according to press reports.


3. (U) The acquittal represents a reversal of the ad hoc
Human Rights Court's 2002 conviction of Guterres and the
Supreme Court's own 2006 decision to uphold Guterres'
sentence on appeal. The acquittal was based on new evidence
submitted for the judicial review. The new evidence included
information that three of the 13 people that the prosecution
charged Guterres with killing were still living, according to
press reports. Djoko Sarwoko, a member of the Supreme Court
panel that acquitted Guterres, said the 2002 ad hoc Human
Rights Court decision had determined Guterres had command
responsibility for violence in East Timor. The judicial
review panel decided Guterres did not have command
responsibility for the post-referendum attacks because these
were unpremeditated and executed outside Guterres' control.


4. (C) Panel judges used logic that some legal experts said
was inconsistent. Justice Sarwoko compared Guterres' case to
the acquittal of Abilio Soares, then-governor of East Timor,
to the effect that since Soares was acquitted of human rights
crimes in East Timor, therefore Guterres--whom Sarwoko
claimed was a subordinate of Soares--should also be freed.
Rudy M. Rizky, a judge who convicted Guterres in the 2002 ad
hoc court, criticized this reasoning. Soares did provide
Guterres with operational space in the governor's complex,
but Guterres did not report to the governor. The cases, he
said, should not be linked.

CRITICISM OF RULING


5. (U) Human rights activists saw the acquittal as a
setback. Usman Hamid from human rights NGO Kontras appealed
to President Yudhoyono to reconsider the legal process and
how the government handles cases of gross human rights
violations. With Guterres' release, every individual tried
in an ad hoc Human Rights Court has now been acquitted.
Hamid called for Yudhoyono to remember his promise to resolve
cases of gross human rights violations (see ref B).
Indonesia set up ad hoc Human Rights Courts for the 1999
violence in East Timor and for the 1984 massacre in Tanjung
Priok, North Jakarta.


6. (U) Rafendi Djamin, head of the Human Rights Working
Group, said he will bring the issue of Guterres' acquittal to
the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review of
Indonesia's human rights record. (Note: Indonesia will stand

JAKARTA 00000702 002.2 OF 002


for a human rights review before the UN Human Rights Council
on April 9. Djamin is monitoring the review process in
Geneva.) "We can urge the international community to form a
human rights court . . . or a hybrid human rights court such
as the one former Secretary General Annan recommended when he
visited Indonesia and Timor Leste," Djamin told the press.

IMPLICATIONS


7. (C) The Supreme Court's reversal is a setback for
accountability and raises serious questions about the
effectiveness of the ad hoc trials meant to bring justice in
human rights cases. However, the Supreme Court's
flip-flopping decision-making is not uncommon in the recent
history of Indonesia's court system, which has rendered
contradictory decisions in other prominent cases. President
Yudhoyono's commitment to his promise to resolve past gross
human rights violations will be tested. In the next month,
the government's response to the Indonesia-Timor Leste
Commission for Truth and Friendship report will provide
another opportunity to measure the GOI's seriousness about
seeking accountability for human rights violations in East
Timor.

HUME