Witness: Indonesian Soldiers Participated In Timor Raid

JAKARTA, July 24 (AP)--An East Timorese farmer testified Wednesday that he saw Indonesian soldiers fire on a pro-independence leader's house during the violence that engulfed the territory in 1999.

Alfredo Sanches said that moments after the April 1999 shooting, anti-independence militiamen forced their way into the home of separatist leader Manuel Carrascalao where hundreds of people were sheltering.

Twelve people were killed in the raid on the house in East Timor's capital, Dili.

"I saw armed militiamen shoot fellow refugees to death," said Sanches, who was in the house and was shot twice and stabbed during the attack.

He made the comments during the trial of former Dili police chief Col. Hulman Gulton. He, and 17 other security and government officials, are being prosecuted for alleged crimes against humanity.

The defendants have all denied the charges.

U.N. officials and human rights activists have accused Indonesia's army and pro-Jakarta militias of being responsible for killing nearly 1,000 people and destroying much of the territory after the majority of East Timorese voted to secede from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored August, 1999 referendum.

Trial witnesses have testified that Indonesia's government funded the militias and some soldiers and police officers either allowed the attacks to take place or actively participated in them.

The last of the 18 men facing prosecution over the violence started his trial Wednesday. Col. Nur Muis oversaw Indonesia's military in East Timor during the ballot.

He is accused of failing to prevent his subordinates and militiamen from attacking a church and the homes of two pro-independence leaders in raids that left at least 40 people dead.

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