Indonesia's Generals on Trial in U.S. Courts
Supreme Court upholds use of Alien Tort
Claims Act in human rights cases:
Judge issues $66 million judgment
in Lumintang case: media release; text of
judge's Finding of Fact and Conclusions
of Law
Lumintang Case
On Tuesday, March 28, 2000, Indonesian General Johny Lumintang was served with notice that a
lawsuit had been filed on behalf of six plaintiffs who had relatives killed or property
destroyed or were injured or forced from their homes in the aftermath of the August
30, 1999 vote on East Timor's independence. The lawsuit was filed by the New York-based
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and San Francisco-based Center for Justice and
Accountability (CJA). 
2001
Press coverage of court judgment (late
2001 and beyond)
Lumintang Case in the Media
(2001)
Satellite Imagery played key role in documenting human rights violations at
U.S. trial of an Indonesian General....
ETAN: Lumintang Hearing Set
2000
ETAN Supports Lawsuit against General Lumintang
The Legal Complaint as Filed in Court
Allan Nairn on General Lumintang and the U.S.
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Masters of Terror:
Indonesia's Military and Violence in East Timor
Order from ETA |
Lumintang Case in the Media (2000)
Issues at play in Lumintang suit
Legal Papers
Finding of Fact and Conclusions
of Law
Initial Complaint Plaintiffs v. MAJOR GENERAL JOHNY
LUMINTANG
The Evidence
The Telegram
Click to see full size telegram with Lumintang signature.
A telegram signed by General Lumintang and sent to the regional military head Major
General Adam Damiri and other commanders just hours before the agreement to conduct the a
vote East Timor's political status was signed at the United Nations on May 5. The telegram
ordered the commanders to plan a crackdown should the East Timorese vote in favor of
independence. The telegram read:
"Prepare a security plan to prevent civil war that includes
preventive action (create conditions), policing measures, repressive/coercive measures and
a plan to move to the rear/evacuate if the second option independence is chosen."
Soon after the vote, such a plan was put into action and hundreds of
thousands were forced from their homes to for their safety or to West Timor or other
islands of Indonesia.
See: Conclusive
Proof TNI Planned Reign of Terror (The Independent [UK] 5 February 2000) for a report
on the telegram and other documents.
The Army Manual
Click to see near full size images
Cover page of Kopassus manual
Page with Lumintang's signature
Page 35 of the manual
The lawsuit cites a June 1999 army manual, also signed by Lumintang, which
states that Kopassus intelligence operatives were to be trained in propaganda, kidnapping,
terror, agitation, sabotage, infiltration, undercover operations, wiretapping,
photographic intelligence and psychological operations. Kopassus operatives were involved
in the kidnapping of East Timorese independence activists prior to and after the
independence vote.
Translation of page 35 from the handbook marked CONFIDENTIAL:
Training.
Implemented to cultivate the capability of Sandhi Yudha TNI-Army that it already possesses
in the following ways:
a) Studying the theory of Sandhi Yudha TNI-Army in class arranged and
according to a schedule of individual activities that cover:
1) Tactic and Technique War of Nerves 
2) TT Propaganda
3) TT Kidnapping
4) TT Terror
5) TT Agitation
6) TT Sabotage
7) TT Infiltration
8) TT ?????
9) TT Wiretapping
10) TT Photographic Intelligence
11) TT Psychological Operation
b) Written test to determine how far the member has absorbed the lessons
of Sandhi Yudha theory that have been given.
c) Field Practice by person/group to put into practice the theory and
lessons of Sandhi Yudha that have been given.
3) Assignment. All personnel of Sandi Yudha TNI-Army have the same
opportunity to receive special assignments in an area of operation. The assignment in the
area of operation will assume the means that are appropriate to test the capability of the
Sandhi Yudha TNI-Army personnel.
 Todd v. Panjaitan
(No. 92-12255, slip op. (D. Mass. Oct. 26, 1994))
In 1994, CCR successfully sued Major-General Sintong Panjaitan for his role in a 1991
massacre in Dili, East Timor in which more than 270 Timorese were gunned down. U.S.
District Court Judge Patti Saris ordered the general to pay $4 million in compensatory
damages and $10 million in punitive damages to Helen Todd, the mother of Kamal Bamadhaj,
the only non-East Timorese killed that day.
Mother to Collect Damages for East Timor
Massacre
Mother, reporter tell of massacre of 271
"Death in East Timor" by Helen Todd
Punish Suharto, says mother The Evening Post (Wellington)
Additional Background on the Santa Cruz Massacre
Legal Papers
Memorandum of Law HELEN TODD, Plaintiff v. SINTONG
PANJAITAN, Defendant
Legal
Background
Supreme Court upholds use of Alien Tort
Claims Act in human rights cases:
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