Special Panels judges convict Timorese man for murder of two UN employees

Judges at the Special Panels for Serious Crimes today convicted a Timorese militia member for the murders of two East Timorese employees of the United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) in September 1999.

The Special Panel of two international judges and one East Timorese judge convicted Salvador Soares, a former Dadurus Merah Putih militia member, of one count of murder as a crime against humanity for the stabbing death of Ruben Barros and it held him responsible for the death of Domingos Pereira on 2 September 1999.

Mr. Soares was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison, with time deducted for time already spent in detention since June 2002.

He was acquitted of one count of torture for the beating of Ruben Barros in front of the Barros family home in Maliana town.

Nine others who were indicted with Mr. Soares, including the former Indonesian military (TNI) intelligence chief of Bobonaro district, Lieutenant Sutrisno, and TNI intelligence member, Sergeant Asis Fontes, remain at large in the Republic of Indonesia, the UN Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) said.

INTERPOL arrest warrants have been issued for five of the nine, it said.

Since 2001 the Special Panels have convicted 41 defendants and acquitted one. It has also indicted a total of 360 persons on charges in connection with the murders or disappearances of 10 East Timorese UNAMET staff, the SCU said.

It said 281 of the accused are, however, outside the jurisdiction of Timor Leste, including 37 TNI officers, four Indonesian chiefs of police and 60 East Timorese TNI members.