Former East Timor governor jailed for allowing massacres

(14 Aug 2002) 1. Exterior Central Jakarta court 2. Interior judges sitting down 3. Lawyers 4. Judge 5. Former governor of East Timor Abilio Soares walking into courtroom, Soares sits down 6. Lawyer 7. Pan from lawyers to Soares 8. Various audience in court 9. Various Soares sitting 10. Judges 11. Lawyers 12. Reverse shot courtroom 13. SOUNDBITE: (Bahasa Indonesia) Judge Emmy Murni Mustafa: "The defendant Abilio Jose Osario Soares has proven guilty as charged for heavily violating human rights and we punish him the defendant with 3 years in jail." 14. SOUNDBITE: (Indonesian) Abilio Soares, Former governor of East Timor: "The judge asked me why I did not dismiss the militia (Indonesian). I said, 'What can I do to dismiss them, all of them were carrying machetes, I could have been killed immediately.' " 15. Media around Soares STORYLINE: In an unprecedented verdict, the former governor of East Timor was convicted on Wednesday of allowing massacres and sentenced to three years in prison. It was the first verdict in a series of trials of former Indonesian officials charged with crimes against humanity. Abilio Soares promised to appeal. "I've been made a scapegoat," he told reporters. "How can I, one person, disband a militia which is armed with spears, axes and guns?" Though the guilty verdict will be welcomed by human rights activists, the seemingly short jail sentence is likely to be condemned. The prosecution had asked for 10 and a half years. The verdict was delivered by a human rights court hearing the cases of 18 former officials. They were charged with crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in violence that shook East Timor at the time of its 1999 independence referendum. Soares was Indonesia's governor of East Timor during the UN-organised plebiscite. During his trial, Soares said his only role was to mediate between rival groups in the former Indonesian province and that he personally never committed any crimes. Prosecutors, however, claimed he did nothing to stop four massacres in the province. Hundreds were killed in the lead-up to the August 30, 1999 referendum that saw the overwhelming majority of Timorese vote for independence. After the ballot, Indonesia's army and its militia proxies killed up to 1,000 people and forced at least 250,000 others to flee to neighbouring West Timor. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...