Mystery surrounds death of David Alex

Mystery surrounds death of David Alex

By James Balowski

Mystery still surrounds the death of David Alex, deputy chief of staff of the East Timorese armed resistance, Falintil, who was shot and captured in Kaibada, Bacau, on June 25.

The Indonesian military insists that Alex died in a military hospital in Dili as a result of his wounds. Rebel sources, however, say Alex died under interrogation.

Other sources believed that Alex might not have died but was still being held in military custody.

Then on June 27, a Reuters report quoted an army lieutenant as saying, "David Alex was buried in a public cemetery in Dili on Thursday afternoon [June 26], and the burial was attended by his relatives".

On the same day, however, the British human rights organisation Tapol said that relatives of Alex had refuted the claim and did not attend the burial.

The military responded by claiming that it had photographs of Alex at the hospital and the family were welcome to see them.

On July 5, Indonesia's official news agency, Antara, quoted family member Manuel Mira Freitas as saying "after looking at photographs of him since he was captured ... I am sure that it was indeed David Alex". He also expressed the family's gratitude for the military's "respectful" treatment of the body.

The comments sharply contradict a statement made on June 30, when he told Agence France Presse, "They [the military] are all the time lying to us. We want to see [Alex's] body to make a religious burial."

Tapol is concerned that relatives have come under strong pressure to publicly accept the military's version of events and not press ahead with the demand that the body be exhumed for identification and an autopsy.

Four other East Timorese were captured along with Alex, and Amnesty International believes that they are at risk of torture.

From GLW issue 282