TAPOL Release: Indonesian Draft law protects general against justice Fri, 4 Feb 2000 08:30:31 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - TAPOL Press Release 24 January 2000 For immediate release Indonesia s draft law on human rights court will protect generals from justice A draft law shortly to be submitted to Indonesias parliament on the creation of a human rights court has been deliberately framed so as to protect Indonesian generals from being brought to justice for the horrific crimes against humanity committed during the last few months of Indonesias occupation of East Timor. The draft has abandoned the principle of retroactivity, and therefore rules out the prospect of any grave human rights violations committed prior to the creation of the court from being tried in a court of law. Instead, according to the draft law, such cases will be taken to a truth and reconciliation commission. Carmel Budiardjo, director of TAPOL said: This will render totally useless all the investigations carried out for the past four months by Indonesias Commission of Investigation into Human Rights Violations, KPP HAM, which has closely investigated the linkage between top-level officers in the Indonesian army and the militias who wrought such havoc on East Timor before and after the ballot on 30 August. The recent revelations about the contents of the draft law fully confirm the analysis contained in a Memorandum published today in which TAPOL analyses the problems confronting the investigation and trial of persons suspected of having committed crimes against humanity in East Timor during the period before and after the ballot in that country on 30 August which resulted in an overwhelming victory for East Timors independence. The Memorandum summarises the investigations undertaken by Indonesias own commission of inquiry, the KPP HAM. While stating a preference for these trials to be held in Indonesia, it describes the difficulties that make it almost impossible for this to happen because there is no special human rights court and Indonesian law does not incorporate crimes against humanity and war crimes into its legal code, under which suspects would have to be tried. The Memo also argues that the international community will be unable to accept trials held in Indonesia if suspects are tried by national courts under any of the following conditions: 1. The suspects are tried for ordinary crimes, not for crimes against humanity as defined under international humanitarian law. 2. The courts do not meet the criteria of independence and impartiality and are convened primarily to protect the suspects against being indicted before an international tribunal. 3. The courts pass sentences deemed inappropriate to the gravity of the crime. Persons tried under such conditions would not enjoy the protection of the principle of double jeopardy and could therefore still be indicted by an international tribunal. It also argues that the Indonesian Government proposal to try suspects from the armed forces in so-called koneksitas courts before a mixed panel of civilian and military judges is a sop to the army by using courts that fail the test of independence and impartiality. In the absence of appropriate courts and the inclusion of international humanitarian law into Indonesias legal code, it must allow the trials to be held before an international tribunal. TAPOL states categorically: The new government must show the necessary commitment and political will to end the cycle of impunity. Only by so doing will it ensure the supremacy of civilian government over the militarism that has held Indonesia in its grip since Suharto seized power in 1965. In conclusion, TAPOL puts forward the following demands: 1. The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid should reconsider the draft law on a human rights court and make it retroactive for at least fifteen years. 2. In the absence of any sign that the Indonesian government is willing to create a national human rights court with the necessary powers to try recent grave violations in East Timor and elsewhere, governments throughout the world, especially the member states of the UN Security Council, should support the establishment of an international tribunal to try all those suspected of being perpetrators of crimes against humanity in East Timor. 3. Governments should use their influence with the Indonesian Government to persuade it to accept the creation of an international tribunal. 4. The international community should press for this international tribunal to be set up, with or without the consent of the Indonesian government. 5. Human rights groups and East Timor solidarity groups in Indonesia and around the world should join in a campaign to persuade their governments to support the establishment of this international tribunal 6. Everything should be done to remind the international community and the Indonesian people of the horrific practices visited on the people of East Timor throughout the illegal Indonesian occupation and in particular during the months before and after the ballot on 30 August 1999. 7. The international community should continue to impose sanctions against the TNI in the form of an embargo on arms sales and ties with the Indonesian military until it fully collaborates with actions to properly investigate and bring to trial all those, at whatever level, responsible for crimes against humanity in East Timor. A copy of the eight-page memorandum entitled: ENDING THE CYCLE OF IMPUNITY: CAN THE EAST TIMOR INVESTIGATIONS PAVE THE WAY? is available on request. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign 111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW, UK Phone: 0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322 email: tapol@gn.apc.org Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol Campaigning to expose human rights violations in Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh 26 years - and still going strong ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytpac-02.04.00-08:30:29-536