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Selected Media Coverage of Lumintang Lawsuit
(late 2001) note: some are outside links early 2001 coverage of court hearing ETAN: Court Issues $66 Million Judgment Against Indonesian General Lumintang for E Timor Violence Rights body
alleges AGO-TNI 'deals' in E. Timor cases (Jakarta Post, Mar 25) General ordered to pay out over Timor abuses (Independent, Oct 6) Democracy Now! in Exile interviews attorney Anthony DiCaprio (Oct 5) (Real Audio)
21. As far as UNTAET is aware, the first judgement which explicitly identified the role of the Indonesian authorities in the human rights abuses committed in East Timor during 1999 appears to be the default judgement pronounced on 4 October 2001 in the United States Federal Court in a civil lawsuit against General Johny Lumintang, who was, at the relevant time, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Armed Forces and is currently Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defence. The Federal Court judge stated that General Lumintang, "along with other high-ranking members of the Indonesian military, planned, ordered and instigated acts carried out by subordinates to terrorize and displace the East Timorese population and to destroy East Timor's infrastructure following the vote for independence". General Lumintang was not present at the court hearings. The six plaintiffs or their estates were granted significant punitive and compensatory damages under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789, which allows non-citizens to sue for acts committed outside the United States. While there may be difficulties in enforcing the judgement, NGOs have hailed it as an important step forward in seeking redress for the crimes committed in 1999.
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