An Indonesian militia leader wanted in connection with massacres in East Timor went on trial yesterday for allegedly ordering his men to snatch back surrendered weapons.
Wearing army fatigues, a bandana in the red and white colors of the Indonesian national flag, sunglasses and black beret, Eurico Guterres was cheered by supporters as he walked into the North Jakarta district court.
"Long live Eurico," shouted the supporters, some of them Indonesian veterans of the war in the former Portuguese colony, who packed the courtroom gallery.
The leader of the feared Aitarak (Thorn) militia, Guterres was arrested at a hotel here on Oct. 4 for allegedly inciting criminal activities against the state by ordering his men to snatch back the weapons handed over to police in West Timor.
They had been handed over during a ceremony in September attended by Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
He faces up to six years in jail if convicted.
The case is unrelated to the militia-led violence which devastated East Timor following its independence vote in August 1999. In separate proceedings, UN prosecutors have implicated Guterres in two massacres in East Timor and have formally asked Indonesia to hand over the militia boss to them.
At yesterday's hearing prosecutor Anwar Hakim Nasution also lodged two auxiliary charges against Guterres, to be dealt with in order if the main charge is not proven, as stipulated under Indonesian legal procedures.
Asked by the chief judge Suwardi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, whether he understood the charges, Guterres said: "I understand but I also do not understand."
The judge agreed to a demand by Guterres' lawyer, Suhardi Sumomulyono, to adjourn the case for a week.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft