October 16, 2000

INDONESIA: EURICO GUTERRES REJECTS TRIAL BY ICJ

Kupang, Oct 16 (ANTARA) - Former integration fighters (PPI) deputy commander Eurico Guterres refused to face trial by the International Court of Justice in The Hague and also rejected a letter sent by four PPI leaders to the UN Security Council.

"I reject their statement, and I refuse an international tribunal, because their statement is a personal statement," he said.

Eurico Guterres from his confinement at the Jakarta Police Headquarters contacted ANTARA in Kupang Monday after receiving a photocopy of the letter requesting international legal and security guarantee.

The letter bearing the Integration Fighters letter head was signed by former PPI Sector-A Deputy Commander Joanico Cesario, former PPI Sector-C Deputy Commander Cancio Lopez de Carvalho, former PPI Sector-B Deputy Commander Domingos Pereira, and former PPI Sector-S Deputy Commander Nemecio Lopez de Carvalho.

Point four of the seven-point PPI statement sent to the UN Security Council with copies for various sides, stated that "we ask the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, to process and try our brother Eurico Guterres at an international tribunal, not in Indonesia.

Furthermore, the name Eurico Guterres was also listed as second among the 55 other names for whom the United Nations was also requested to give an international legal and security guarantee under the Human Rights provision in the UN Charter on Human Rights, the Geneva Convention, Switzerland, 1949.

Eurico Guterres argued that the letter was made without his knowledge, so that the statement represented only the four PPI leaders in their personal capacity, rather than representing PPI as an organization.

The statement, according to Eurico Guterres, did not comply with the basic principles of the prointegration community which had shown its dedication to the Indonesian people.

"I have a government, law and prosecutor's office, and I can and will only be tried in Indonesia's legal territory," Eurico Guterres pointed out.

Some 150 lawyers have expressed their readiness to defend me, he said.

So long as the government is still able to solve all problems, there is no need for the United Nations or the United States to interfere, he added.

"I have been waging a struggle, and the Indonesian government has given its positive response, which is proved by the government's plan to provide an island for East Timorese pro-integrationists to stay, which could later be developed into an authority and eventually a province," he said.

In this context Eurico Guterres from his confinement called on all East Timorese pro-integrationists not to be carried away by the personal statement of a handful of PPI figures.

"Just follow the wish of the Indonesian government which is now trying to reach an early solution to our problem, the problem of members of the Indonesian people, show your true identity as member of the Indonesian nation," he said.

"Maintain your harmony with the government and the people of East Nusa Tenggara, and continue your struggle through UNTAS (Timorese Fighters Association - Uni Timor Aswain) and those in refugee camps must not be influenced by rumours," Eurico Guterres said.

He also told those who had made the letter not to try to be "wise" and do strange things which would eventually only cause sufferings to the East Timorese still in the refugee camps.

Eurico Guterres also said he is in the custody of the police, and in good health and each day visited by sympathizers from all sorts of people, including seven NGOs.

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