UN prosecutors yesterday urged East Timor's legal authorities to issue an international arrest warrant for Indonesia's former military supremo, saying he was responsible for war crimes committed by Indonesian forces in their former province in 1999.
General Wiranto, who commanded Indonesia's military during East Timor's violence-wracked secession in 1999, plans to run in Indonesia's presidential elections in July. He was indicted in February last year in East Timor in connection with the violence, but court officials have yet to issue an international warrant for his arrest.
Wiranto -- who resides in Indonesia -- has denied the accusations against him, saying they are part of a conspiracy to undermine his presidential bid.
Indonesian authorities have also said they would not hand over Wiranto or other officers accused of East Timor war crimes, even if there were an international arrest warrant. But if such a warrant were issued, it would mean Wiranto could not travel to a third country without risking extradition.
Nicholas Koumjian, a top UN prosecutor at the Special Court for Serious Crimes in Dili, said in a statement yesterday that Wiranto should be held responsible for the 1999 bloodshed.
"The evidence we have given to the court proves that Wiranto failed in his responsibilities as the ultimate commander of all army and police forces in East Timor to prevent the commission of crimes against humanity and failed to punish the perpetrators," he said.
Nearly 2,000 people died and much of the territory was devastated by Indonesian troops and their militia proxies before and after a UN-organized independence referendum in 1999 that ended a quarter-century of Indonesian military occupation.
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