Also: Guterres Fronts Up At AG Office

East Timor: Jakarta Implicates Aitarak Militia Leader in 1999 Violence 2 Oct-17:47

Indonesian justice authorities have named Eurico Guterres, leader of the East Timorese Aitarak militia, as a suspected perpetrator of the 1999 violence in East Timor.

Implicated along with Eurico Guterres are Lt. Col. Endarpriata, in charge of the Dili region at the time, and two other militi[a]men: Vasco da Cruz and Moturnus. These suspects now join the list of 19 people, among them three generals, made public on Sept. 1. All are named in connection with the investigation to determine responsibilities for the atrocities committed in East Timor.

The magistrate in charge of the inquiry, Muhammad Rachman, said Monday that Eurico Guterres had been involved in the April 1999 attack and killings at the Dili residence of East Timorese pro- independence activist Manuel Carrascalao.

Eurico Guterres, who was in Jakarta on Monday, is due to be questioned Friday about his involvement in the East Timor atrocities. He told media Monday that he had done "nothing wrong," warning that his anti-independence militia, now based in Indonesian West Timor, may take revenge if he is detained.

The chief transition administrator in UN-run East Timor, Sergio Viera de Mello, had on Friday termed Guterres an "instigator" and "well-known suspect of crimes against humanity."

The Aitarak militia then based in the East Timor capital Dili waged a campaign of terror against the local population both before and after the territory's Aug. 1999 independence plebiscite. East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence in the ballot, ending 24 years of occupation by Indonesia.

Aitarak and other militia gangs in West Timor have repeatedly thwarted efforts to repatriate the over 100,000 East Timorese refugees still in the Indonesian half of Timor island a year after the plebiscite.

On Sept. 6, a militia-led mob murdered three employees of the UN High Commission for Refugees in the West Timor border town of Atambua, prompting increased international calls for Jakarta to disarm and disband the paramilitaries.

JBC -Lusa

------ Detikworld, October 3, 2000 Guterres Fronts Up At AG Office Reporter: Lukmanul Hakim/ PT & GB

Jakarta--East Timorese pro-integration militia leader Eurico Guterres has appeared at the Asttorney General's office to clarify the confusion over his proposed arrest. Guterres met the Head of the fact Finding Team for Serious Human Rights Abuses in East Timor, MA Rahman Tuesday 3/10/2000. Arriving at 11:15am at the AG's offices for General Crime on Hasanuddin Street in South Jakarta with his lawyer, Soehardi Soemomoeljono, Gutterres still had time to discuss the situation with reporters. "It is better I, as a child of this nation, arrive on my own and ask for the true story," he said.

As widely reported, President Abdurrahman Wahid's instructed the Attorney General arrest Gutteres as means to show the internationla community that the government was erious in its handling of human rights abuses in East Timor.

According to reports, he is to issued a summons this Friday, (6/10/2000). Guterres, Deputy Leader of the Fight for Pro Integration group, said he has still not received the summons. "I am clearly going to attend. I'm just a good person and further more, rather than being arrested it is better I surrender myself," proclaimed Gutteres.

He also said that he was prepared to be named a suspect. "But is the East Timorese problem going to be over and done with?" Gutterres asked rhetoricaly. As the Deputy Leader of the Fight for Pro Integration, Gutteres has been linked to the destruction of the house belonging to former East Timorese Provincial Governor, Manuel Carascalao, on 17 April 1999 and to the attack on the United Nations High Commission For Refugees compound in Atambua on the 6 September 2000.

"I'm a black sheep at the moment," moaned Guterres who added he does not understand why he is the only one accused of destroying Carascalao's house.

"Who is going to question Manuel's own mistakes? He after all murdered hundreds and thousands of Indonesians," accused Guterres.

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