Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: impuniti i massacri a Timor Est?

 East Timor massacres may go unpunished
http://www.guardian.co.uk/indonesia/Story/0,2763,356155,00.html
Special report: Indonesia and East Timor
Jon Aglionby in Dili, East Timor
Saturday August 19, 2000
Indonesia's disgraced army could be granted an amnesty for human rights
abuses in East Timor after a last-minute amendment to the country's
constitution.
The amendment appeared to contradict President Abdurrahman Wahid's
assurances to the UN that Indonesia would conduct its own investigation
into massacres in East Timor, and that an international war crimes tribunal
was not necessary.
The controversial change was introduced on the final afternoon of the
annual session of the country's supreme legislative body, the people's
consultative assembly (MPR). Some legislators tried to reassure critics
that it would exclude major human rights abuses.
The MPR also voted unanimously to allow the military to retain its formal
role in government for a further five years after the next election, taking
it to 2009.
Analysts said the moves indicated a reluctance to offend the armed forces,
which are still powerful. There has been speculation that the army might
stage a coup if it were forced from the political scene.
Indonesia's constitution will now say that military personnel cannot be
prosecuted for crimes committed before the enactment of the legislation
used to prosecute them. A decree to enable Indonesia to investigate the
atrocities was cancelled in February, even though a law aimed at creating a
special court to deal with past human rights violations by the security
forces had yet to be enacted.
The constitutional amendment could affect the investigation of military
abuses all over the archipelago, from Aceh to West Papua, but will have
most immediate relevance to events in East Timor.
Hundreds of East Timorese were murdered by Indonesia's military-backed
militias before and after the territory voted for independence last year,
and hundreds of thousands more were forcibly evacuated to neighbouring West
Timor. Soldiers and militiamen destroyed tens of thousands of buildings.
Political analyst Kusnanto Anggoro said of the amendment: "This shows that
the military is still a powerful force to be reckoned with."
But a senior MPR legislator, Jacob Tobing, indicated that it might still be
possible to prosecute the dozen generals allegedly responsible for the East
Timor abuses. He said that the amendment would probably not apply to
"special crimes" such as genocide, war crimes and terrorism.
One western diplomat said: "It is all very vague. What is more worrying is
that the investigation is proceeding without any formal legal basis so the
defence lawyers will be able to announce a very strong case to have any
charges thrown out."
In East Timor, the vast majority of people say those responsible must be
tried. What's more, they say the trials should take place in an
international tribunal because they do not have confidence in Indonesia's
notoriously corrupt legal system.
"The location of the tribunal is not important as long as it's not in
Indonesia or under Indonesian law," said Aniceto Lopes of the East Timor
Human Rights Foundation.
A UN spokeswoman said yesterday that the MPR decision would have to be
studied more closely before she would comment on whether the international
community would now push for an international tribunal.
Many UN sources in East Timor say that the international community has
little appetite for organising prosecutions because they would be extremely
expensive and would risk further destabilising Indonesia.
This sentiment is reflected in a UN proposal to cut by almost half the
number of international investigators looking into last year's atrocities.
Senior UN officials and East Timorese political leaders such as Jose
"Xanana" Gusmao are also advocating reconciliation rather than justice.
But their calls are mostly falling on deaf ears. "We endured 25 years of
hell under Indonesian occupation," said Augusto da Silva, a farmer. "Not
only do we want justice, but we need justice in order to put the past
behind us and move on."

Quando i massacratori, sono islamici, ed i massacrati cristiani, l'impunità
è garantita.
Saluti
Veniero.

Mi scuso se la risposta forse apparirą due volte sul vostro schermo, io,
purtroppo non la visualizzo.
Puņ stare sicuro, caro Mackenzie, se i massacratori sono mussulmeni ed i
massacrati cristiani, l'impunitą č garantita.
Saluti
Veniero.