From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Timor: Xanana To Be Tried In Dili
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 05:04:10 GMT

/** reg.easttimor: 367.0 **/
** Topic: Xanana To Be Tried In Dili **
** Written  8:17 pm  Dec 10, 1992 by cscheiner in cdp:reg.easttimor **
From: Charles Scheiner <cscheiner>
Subject: Xanana To Be Tried In Dili

/* Written  8:17 pm  Dec 10, 1992 by cscheiner@igc.apc.org in igc:reg.indonesia */
/* ---------- "Xanana To Be Tried In Dili" ---------- */
From: Charles Scheiner <cscheiner>
Subject: Xanana To Be Tried In Dili

/* Written  8:06 am  Dec 10, 1992 by apakabar@igc.apc.org in igc:reg.indonesia */
/* ---------- "Xanana To Be Tried In Dili" ---------- */

Remark: Several differences appear in two stories on Xanana's trial, while
vital details remain vague in both.

  UPI: trial in 3 months according to a military source.    
  Reuter: no trial date mentioned by the Attorney General.

  UPI: subversion charges will be brought.   
  Reuter: other charges will be brought under the Criminal Code (KUHP).

On a point where the stories agree -- the trial site is Dili -- this
places special burdens on defense lawyers.  Xanana knows very little
Indonesian, an additional handicap in his defense.  He functions
mainly in Portuguese.

The surrender of 1,000 clandestine followers probably refers to round-ups
and conditional releases of many leaders and members of two of the most 
important youth and student groups which supported the armed resistance.
It is very likely that certain figures from these groups will be produced
as prosecution witnesses at Xanana's trial and testify under coercion.
Their testimony and documents seized from Xanana's hiding place will
expose persons and groups abroad whose aid they have sought and who have
volunteered aid.  The Army for sure and likely the prosecution will now
depict the East Timorese armed resistance as confined to small bands led by 
three 'secondary' leaders shorn of most of their internal clandestine support 
links and the continuing diplomatic struggle abroad as the work of foreigners 
and some East Timorese with no standing in East Timor.  Full Indonesian
press accounts now available show that President Soeharto himself ordered
Xanana's trial shortly after he received news in Dakar of the capture.
   -- John

____________________________


   According to a December 10 UPI story datelined Jakarta, authorities 
said Thursday rebel leader  Xanana Gusmao will be tried in the East Timor 
capital of Dili within three months and that about 1,000 of his followers 
in the troubled province have surrendered to the Indonesian government. 
   Military officials have said that Xanana would be tried on subversion
charges, which in Indonesia carries a possible death penalty. 
   "Xanana will be tried in Dili where he committed crimes," said
Singgih, the attorney general, to Antara, the Indonesian official news
agency. 
   Xanana, 45, was captured by the Indonesian troops Nov. 20 after
eluding government forces for 16 years. Though an exact date has not
been set, the trial is expected to begin within three months, a high-
ranking military official said. 
   Brig. Gen. Theo Syafei, East Timor's military operations commander,
meanwhile said he estimated that up to 1,000 members of clandestine
groups have surrendered after the capture of their leader. 
   Meanwhile, the Jakarta Post reported from Dili that 22 officers who
took part in the capture of Xanana would receive medals of merit from
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Edi Sudradjat. 
   Indonesia and Portugal are scheduled to discuss the future of East
Timor at the United Nations Dec. 17. But Portuguese foreign minister
Jose Durao Barroso said earlier this week the prospect of the talks were
gloomy. 
   Barroso said the signals from Jakarta are "very negative" and charged
the Indonesian forces had stepped up "repressive measures and intimidation" 
since the Xanana's capture. 
   Allegations of continued repression and human rights absues by
Indonesian troops have hampered relations between Lisbon and Jakarta. 
  
_____________________________


    According to a December 10 Reuter story datelined Jakarta, Indonesia 
will try captured East Timor rebel chief Xanana Gusmao under its criminal 
law, Attorney General Singgih was quoted on Thursday as saying.
    Diplomats said the decision might let Xanana escape a death
sentence, which he could have faced had he been tried under the harsher
subversion law.
    Antara news agency quoted Singgih as saying Xanana, the head of
Fretilin guerrillas fighting Indonesia's rule over the territory, would
be tried in East Timor's capital Dili where he was captured last month.
    The military said earlier that he would be tried within three
months. Singgih did not give a date.
    He did not specify the charges but a senior police officer said they
could include the illegal possession of guns. This charge under the
criminal code carries a maximum life sentence.
    But there are other charges under the criminal law, including
murder, that are punishable by death.
    "A lot of us expected him to be charged under the subversion law or
both laws," one Western diplomat said, adding that Indonesia unlike many
other countries made a distinction between criminal and subversion laws.
    Another diplomat said Xanana had a better chance of escaping the
death sentence under the criminal law.
    "It is hard to say. First they (Jakarta) may want to see what will
be the effect of a death sentence. But I would be surprised if they gave
him the death sentence," he added.
    Diplomats say hardliners in the government or military may want to
charge Xanana with masterminding demonstrations in Dili in November last
year.
    The trial is expected to focus international attention on both
Xanana and East Timor's status. Jakarta annexed the territory in 1976, a
year after the departure of its Portuguese colonial rulers. The United
Nations does not recognise the move.
    Antara also quoted East Timor's military commander Brigadier General
Theo Syafei as saying more than 1,000 members of a "clandestine group"
had surrendered following Xanana's capture.
    Syafei said they would be booked and sent back to their villages
under a clemency programme.
    He did not say whether they were members of Fretilin, whose strength
he had put just a month ago at fewer than 150.

** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **