Indonesia's Constitutional Court has ruled the country's much-criticized truth and reconciliation commission illegal, casting doubt on whether victims of former dictator Suharto will ever see justice.
The commission, which has yet to start sitting, was meant to probe political killings, disappearances and massacres during Suharto's 32-year rule, after he was toppled in 1998 by pro-democracy demonstrations.
Critics say lawmakers -- many linked to Suharto and the brutal military that propped him up -- created a severely flawed commission that infringed on victims' rights and did not allow for the full truth behind abuses to be revealed.
The court on Thursday declared that several articles, concerning the provision of amnesty and reparations in laws setting up the commission, are unconstitutional.
The court also said on its Web site that the body has no legal basis.
The surprise ruling means laws must be rewritten to set up the body, a process likely to take several years and to depend on the political will of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former military officer.
"The fact that the legislation has been struck down should not relieve the Indonesian government of its ongoing commitment to provide justice, truth and reparations to victims of gross violations of human rights," said Paul van Zyl, vice president of the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice.
"It places a greater obligation on the government to ensure that the rights and needs of victims are properly addressed," van Zyl said.
Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangengan said the government is studying the ruling and "its implications for the future."
The court's judgment came in response to a plea by rights groups seeking to challenge several articles in the law -- not to have the commission declared illegal.
Former president Abdurrahman Wahid took steps to establish the commission soon after Suharto's downfall, but legislation to set it up was only passed in 2004, after going through the country's notoriously slow parliament.
The commission was assigned to find the truth behind systematic rights abuses committed in Indonesia before 2000 and to recommend reparations for victims or amnesties for perpetrators.
It was seen as the only way to help Indonesia reconcile with its bloody past, given the vast number of cases and the country's slow, inefficient and corrupt legal system.
But many rights activists have said they feared the commission was becoming a way to whitewash past crimes -- not to meaningfully address them.
The commission has faced opposition from right-wing Muslim groups opposed to any move to uncover the truth behind the 1965 massacre of about 500,000 suspected communists. Muslim groups carried out most of the killings under the orders of Suharto, who assumed power a year later.
Still-powerful military officers also oppose the commission, which could reveal the extent of army killings in stifling separatist movements in far-flung regions, notably Papua and Aceh.
Suharto, 85, has been declared too sick to stand trial for any crimes committed during his rule.
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