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Subject: Hundreds of E Timorese at Justice Ministry
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 01:51:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: TAPOL
TAPOL Report, 17 June 1998
Three hundred and twenty East Timorese marched to the Justice Ministry today Wednesday to present a demand for all East Timorese political prisoners to be released.
The hundreds of Timorese had gathered in Jakarta last Friday to demonstrate at the Foreign Ministry and hold a dialogue with the Foreign Minister, but were forcibly ousted from the premises by troops. Many were wounded.
At today's demonstration, the Timorese were received by staff of the Ministry who said that the Minister was unavailable as he was abroad, on a visit to Italy.
In their petition to the Minister, the East Timorese called for the release of resistance leader Xanana Gusmao in order to push forward negotiations for the resolution of the question of East Timor.
The action which lasted an hour passed without incident and the Timorese returned to their accommodation at the office of the Catholic students organisation, PMKRI.
Later in the day, former parliamentarian Sri-Bintang Pamungkas, recently released from Cipinang Prison, who leads the pro-democracy party, PUDI, visited the Timorese and gave a lecture. His words were received enthusiastically by the East Timorese.
TAPOL, Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, 111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW, UK Phone: 0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322 email: tapol@gn.apc.org Defending the rights of the victims of Indonesian oppression in Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh.