UN report: East Timor trials a sham

Three legal experts appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in February to investigate Jakarta's trials of those responsible for atrocities during East Timor's 1999 independence referendum has described the trials, in which all but two accused were acquitted, as "manifestly inadequate" and the prosecutors as "not committed to justice". Thier report recommends that if Jakarta cannot prepare "credible" trials within another six months, the UN should set up an international war crimes court for East Timor. In 2000, the UN ignored an International Commission of Inquiry into East Timor report that recommended an international tribunal try the Indonesian generals who oversaw the 1999 massacres, in favour of allowing Jakarta to conduct the trials in East Timor. The experts' report and recommendations will be debated by the UN Security Council in the final week of June.

From Green Left Weekly, June 29, 2005.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 631