INDONESIA: General faces US lawsuit

Activists in the United States have launched a lawsuit against General Johnny Lumintang, the former deputy chief of staff of the Indonesian army. On March 31, Lumintang was served with a subpoena at Washington's Dulles International Airport as he prepared to board a flight out of the US.

The suit was filed by the Center for Justice and Accountability, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the East Timor Action Network on behalf of three East Timorese victims of the destruction in East Timor carried out by the Indonesian army and the militias.

Lumintang has until April 19 to respond to the charges of “torture, cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment, wrongful death, assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress”.

The complaint, filed in the District of Columbia, alleges that Lumintang, as the army's deputy chief of staff, “directed, planned, instigated, conspired, aided, abetted, incited and failed to prevent and/or is otherwise responsible for the campaign of crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights law ... in East Timor”.

The principal evidence cited in the complaint is a secret document signed by Lumintang on May 5 addressed to Colonel Tono Suratman, the military commander in Dili. It is an order to carry out “repressive/coercive measures” and a plan to “move to the rear/evacuate if the second option [independence] is chosen”. The document was discovered by the East Timorese legal aid organisation Yayasan Hak earlier this year.

Lumintang was in the US at the invitation of the US-Indonesia Society to discuss the internal reforms to the Indonesian military. US ambassador to Jakarta Robert S. Gelbard was reported in the April 5 Jakarta Post as stating that his government considered the lawsuit “an unfortunate circumstance”. “The US government was not involved with this and I personally consider him as a friend”, added Gelbard.

BY JON LAND

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