In
early November, the Indonesian Parliament passed a human rights
act that would, for the first time in the nations history,
empower the courts to prosecute members of the military for human
rights abuses and crimes of war. More recently, the Parliament acted
to establish an ad hoc court to hear the East Timor cases, but Wahid
has yet to ratify that action, and no one is sure that he will.
So the progress, while real, is effectively slight.
Without an international tribunal or cooperation from the Indonesian
government to create a domestic tribunal, the struggling nation
of East Timor is left to pursue justice on its own. For its part,
UNTAET is trying desperately to uncover some sense of accountability
within the confines of the island nation. Thus far, it has managed
to establish the beginnings of a national court system in East Timor
and, in early February, an East Timor court handed down its first
indictment for a crime committed during the ballot violence, sentencing
an East Timorese man to 12 years for murder. However, because the
perpetrator was such a "small fish," the trial served
to highlight UNTAETs
limitations in facilitating justice.
Since
UNTAET has no jurisdiction beyond East Timors border, it is
all but powerless to pursue justice for the crimes of last year.
On paper, the United Nations and Indonesia have agreed to share
evidence and to facilitate extraditions, but it is extremely unlikely
that Indonesia would relinquish a military officer or militia leader
to UNTAET or to an independent East Timor. In fact, in October UNTAET
made a formal request for the Indonesian government to extradite
Guterres after the militia leader was arrested on the weapons charge.
The request was promptly denied. And, in December, when a team of
UN investigators arrived in Indonesia to interview military witnesses,
it received a less than warm welcome, with a group of protesters
attacking one of their cars. "We will never hand over our soldiers
for questioning conducted in the interests of UNTAET,
declared Deputy Army Chief of Staff Kiki Syahnakrie during the UN
visit.
Given
that the United Nations continues to balk at its own investigators
calls for an international tribunal and that there is little, if
any, reason to lend credence to Indonesias assurances,
East Timor will face not only certain hardship but, in all likelihood,
the continued withholding of justice. "As long as the men who
killed my brother remain unpunished on the other side of the border,"
Julio Martins Riverio says softly, " I will feel like my heart
is broken. But if they come back and respond to what they have done
why and how they did it my heart will be able to mend
a little."
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