From: hrcoord@igc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: What really happened on 28 October
Date: 23 Jul 92 14:26:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700254:000:4525
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jul 23 07:26:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: What really happened on 28 October

/* Written  7:39 am  Jul 23, 1992 by gn:tapol in cdp:reg.easttimor */
What really happened on 28 October?

The following article will appear in TAPOL Bulletin, No 112,
August 1992. In the absence of the possibility to carry out on-
the-spot investigations in Dili, some of the material contained
in the trial documents is invaluable.


WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON 28 OCTOBER?

Lawyers defending Francisco Miranda Branco have shed new light
on the incident in Motael Church on 28 October 1991, when
Sebastiao Gomes was killed. Their defence plea, read out in the
Dili district court on 23 May 1992, gives some very pertinent
facts. This account, slightly abridged below, highlights the need
for a thorough investigation to discover what triggered the
events on 12 November.  
A religious dignitary believes that what happened on 12 November
has its roots in earlier events when a number of youths who felt
threatened sought refuge in Motael Church. Security officials
said they had nothing to fear and they should go home, but when
they did, they were threatened and others in their families were
threatened as well.
  On 5 October 1991, during the Army Day celebration, the
military commander, Brig-General Warouw, made a remark expressing
his dissatisfaction with this state of affairs.
  On 27 October in the late afternoon, according to the same
source, several people on motor-bikes who were shouting loudly,
rode round and round the church, occasionally throwing stones at
it. Soon after midnight, on 28 October, several people who were
also shouting, started throwing stones more persistently in the
direction of the church poly-clinic. The young people inside
rushed out to chase these trouble-makers off. It was not possible
to avoid a fight in which Sebastiao Gomes was involved. He was
shot by someone firing from the direction of the sea-front to the
north, as he came through the front gate. He fell to the ground,
hit by four or five bullets. Another bullet hit a tree in front
of the church; that bullet is still embedded in the tree. His
body was found in front of the church gate. An autopsy was
performed at the hospital and he was buried at Santa Cruz
Cemetery.
  An eye-witness added that at almost the same time, the body of
Afonso [Hendrigues] was found on the same road with injuries
inflicted by a sharp implement. It is not clear who killed him.
According to the eye-witness, the body of Afonso, who was known
in the community as an agent working for the security forces, was
lying about 20 metres from Sebastiao's body. Blood was smeared
several metres away from the body, to the west. There is strong
reason to believe that Afonso was not killed at the place where
the fighting took place but had been killed earlier, somewhere
else, and his body put in front of the church. This was done so
as to create the impression that he was killed with a sharp
implement used by youngsters taking refuge in the church.
  Local inhabitants who had been awakened by the continuous
ringing of church bells rushed out to see what had happened at
the church but were held back by security forces who were
standing guard in a radius of tens of metres from the church;
they told the people to go home.
  Brig.General Warouw's 5 October remarks and the fact that
troops were on guard to prevent people from getting near the
church have led people to suspect that the death of Sebastiao was
pre-arranged. Later, troops entered the church and carried out
a search. Some weeks later, reports appeared in the press that
a number of sharp implements, banners and other things had been
found hidden away in the church. The parish priest, Father
Alberto Ricardo da Silva, said he knew nothing about any such
things being found; he only saw them later when summoned by the
police. The police admitted that it was an 'oversight' on their
part not to draw up a record of confiscation.
  Another aspect confirmed by Fr Ricardo is that an escaped
prisoner, known to his friends as 'Aliong' had taken refuge in
the church. This gave the security forces an excuse to enter the
church in the days prior to 28 October in order to search for
him. According to another version, Aliong was 'let out' and told
to take refuge in the church some days before 28 October to give
the security forces an excuse to search the church. [This is
undoubtedly the man who escaped from prison with Jose Antonio
Joaquim Galucho, whose wife is shortly to go on trial.]
Xref: sparky soc.rights.human:2729 misc.legal:15004 alt.activism:13645