INDONESIA: INTERVIEW-Indonesia says Timor trials to start soon. By Terry Friel

JAKARTA, May 10 (Reuters) - Indonesia could begin the trials of senior soldiers over last year's atrocities in East Timor in two months, Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman said on Wednesday.

But he could not say if former armed forces chief General Wiranto, implicated in the bloodshed by an official human rights inquiry, would be prosecuted.

To head off the threat of an international war crimes tribunal, Indonesia is under strong world pressure to punish those responsible for the violence following East Timor 's vote last August to end Indonesian rule.

Hundreds of people were killed, more than 250,000 were forced to flee their homes and much of the territory was destroyed.

Darusman told Reuters Jakarta may pay compensation to East Timor if generals were convicted.

"Compensation will have to be addressed subsequently on a very specific case-by-case basis," he said.

Although no-one has yet been charged, Darusman said he expected the first trials to start before the end of his three-month deadline, which expires in mid-July.

WIRANTO'S FATE UNCLEAR

"It's possible to envisage that towards the end of the third month that we'll have some of the cases already brought to trial," he said.

But he would not say if Wiranto would be charged.

"It may be possible of course that after our investigations, we conclude that some (people) may not have to be investigated further," he said when asked if Wiranto would be prosecuted. The human rights inquiry implicated Wiranto, five other generals and other officers in the wave of murder and destruction by pro-Jakarta militias, backed by the Indonesian military, which erupted after East Timor 's vote for independence.

Wiranto was suspended from his cabinet post as chief security minister in February pending further investigations.

He denies any wrongdoing.

A special team of 64 investigators formed last month is due to visit East Timor and West Timor later this month to gather evidence.

Wiranto has not yet been questioned by the investigators, but other senior army and police officers have.

When Darusman began his investigation in February, he said he hoped to begin court proceedings within three months.

But the process has proved slower than expected, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

US REPEATS WARNING

Last week, the United States repeated its warning that the international community would have to punish those responsible for the East Timor violence if Indonesia failed.

"The bottom line is that those responsible for orchestrating this bloodbath must be brought to justice," said U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

"If the Indonesian judicial system is capable of delivering credible justice, so much the better. If that is not ultimately the case, the international community can and should exert its prerogatives to see that the perpetrators are brought to justice."

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975, but its rule was never widely recognised internationally and the military was accused of widespread human rights abuses in trying to quash pro-independence guerrillas.

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