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East Timor: UN prosecutor files third indictment for crimes against humanity

East Timor: UN prosecutor files third indictment for crimes against humanity

The Prosecutor General of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) today filed an indictment against two militia members charged with committing crimes against humanity during the territory's post-referendum violence in September 1999.

Anastasio Martins and Domingos Gonçalves were indicted for crimes allegedly committed in Liquiça district as part of the orchestrated campaign of violence by members of the Indonesian Army (TNI) and the pro-autonomy militia group Besi Merah Putih (Red White Iron), UNTAET said in a statement issued today.

Mr. Martins is suspected of killing three individuals in Metagou, Liquiça district, on 4 September 1999 and of murdering one individual in Atapupu, West Timor, on 14 September 1999. Mr. Gonçalves is suspected of the murder of three individuals in Buka Mera on 7 September 1999.

Both men, currently in detention in Dili prison, are also accused of deporting civilians from Buka Mera and Legumea village in East Timor to West Timor between 5 and 11 September 1999.

In other news, the East Timor Transitional Cabinet today discussed amendments proposed by the National Council to a regulation on the establishment of an East Timor Defence Force.

The amendments by the Council's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs propose that a recognition of the historical role played by the pro-independence rebel army Falintil be included in the regulation. The Committee also recommends that a new section be added to specify that members of the Force have the right to vote, but must be non-political.

UNTAET chief Sergio Vieira de Mello agreed to consult with UN Headquarters in New York on the matter, and to brief the Cabinet on the outcome, the UN mission said.