Eyewitness account from Liquica
Following is an eyewitness account from Liquica priest RAFAEL DOS SANTOS. It is a translation by Human Rights Watch of a report in the Dili daily paper Suata Timor Timur on April 8.
At about 13:00, members of Besi Merah Putih [BMP] wanted to attack the people who were in the parish houses around the church. At first, the police shot tear gas into the church. Then, they periodically fired shots in the air. Members of Brimob (mobile army unit) shot into the air while members of BMP shot at the people in the church. The shooting of Brimob into the air gave a chance for BMP to enter the church grounds, then BMP began to massacre the people with arrows and spears.
The people hit by the tear gas ran outside with their eyes closed, then the BMP members hacked them. The name of this is murder. The aim of the BMP was to kill all the people in the area of the church, while those who had hidden on the upper floor of the parish house were shot by the army and Brimob while I was brought outside.
Those who were hiding upstairs and in my bathroom were murdered. They were Kades Dato, Jacinto da Costa Conceicao Pereira, Agustinhu, Victor, Leovigildo (a junior high school student) and Lucio. Before this, Laurindo, head of the government fisheries office for Liquica, and Herminio were killed by members of the Maubara subdistrict command (Koramil) in their homes.
The mastermind of these murders did not use Javanese soldiers but rather East Timorese native sons, members of the Maubara Koramil. Only certain soldiers were given arms and joined with the BMP to kill the people. I and Pastor Jose were also targeted for killing, but the traditional weapons of the BMP didn't go off.
ABRI [Indonesian armed forces] claim that there were two firearms in the house. I told two policemen that Jacinto and his son were only carrying knives when they entered the church grounds. ABRI said the two guns were the reason that the BMP and the army killed all those people.
The intention of the BMP in coming to Liquica was to kill all the leaders of the pro-independence movement in Liquica. The people taking shelter in the church compound numbered more than 2000. I saw myself that there were seven victims killed in the parish house.
After the two of us were brought to the KODIM [district military command], the killing got even more brutal and sadistic. If the area commander, Colonel Tono, is saying only five were killed, then what about the youths and old people killed in the parish house? The problem is we don't know where the corpses are. I have no idea.
At night I heard the sounds of a vehicle in the church. We have to know where the bodies are. I came home from the KODIM about 19:00, but when I got home, the bodies weren't there. All that was left was blood all over, including in my bedroom ...
The military and the government must take responsibility for the killing and for the looting in Liquica church and in private homes in Liquica.