The Indonesian Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a notorious militia leader accused in attacks that left around 1,000 people dead during East Timor’s 1999 break for independence.
The acquittal will likely anger human-rights groups and add weight to calls for the establishment of an international tribunal to try those responsible for the violence.
With Eurico Guterres’ upcoming release, announced late on Friday, all 18 suspects originally indicted will have been set free.
Vengeful Indonesian soldiers and their militia proxies carried out the violence after East Timor voted in a UN-sponsored referendum to break free from 24 years of often-brutal Jakarta rule.
Responding to international pressure, Indonesia in 2000 indicted Guterres and 17 other suspects, mostly military and police officers. All were either found not guilty or have since been freed on appeal.
Guterres was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2002 on charges of failing to stop men under his command from attacking independence supporters.
Supreme Court judge Djoko Sarwoko said the verdict was overturned because Guterres’ militia was formed by command of the then-governor of East Timor, who himself was freed on appeal in 2004. The judge gave no more details.
Guterres is expected to be released within days.
To head off calls for the establishment of an international rights tribunal, Indonesia and East Timor formed a joint truth commission in 2005 to investigate the violence. It is due to present its findings later this year.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS