January 10, 2001
The first court hearings into crimes committed during the wave of violence that surrounded the 1999 independence ballot in East Timor got under way in the capital Dili Wednesday, a UN spokesman said.
Preliminary hearings into two murders -- one allegedly committed by a member of East Timor's pro-independence camp and by a member of the pro-Indonesia camp -- began at the Dili District Court. They were chaired by the three-judge Special Panel for Serious Crimes, UN spokesman Peter Biro said by phone from Dili.
Former pro-Indonesia militia member Joao Fernandes is accused of murdering a village chief in Atudara village near the town of Maliana, 75 kilometers (47 miles) south-west of Dili, on September 8, four days after the pro-independence ballot results were announced. Pro-independence Falantil member, Julio Fernandes, is accused of murdering a militiaman on September 26 in the village of Hatolia in Ermera district, 35 kilometers (22 miles) south-west of Dili.
Wednesday's hearings in East Timor, which is now under the transitional administration of the United Nations, will determine whether trials for the two men will go ahead, Biro said. Preliminary hearings into another 10 cases are due to be held in Dili later this month. The three judges on the Special Panel for Serious Crimes are from Italy, Burundi and East Timor, Biro added.
Pro-Jakarta military-backed militia gangs led a wave of anti-independence violence, murder, rape and destruction before and after the August 1999 ballot, which resulted in a 78.5 percent vote for independence from Indonesia. UN investigators say at least 600 people were killed in the violence, and another 250,000 or more driven from their homes. Between 60,000 and 100,000 East Timorese are still stranded in refugee camps over the border in Indonesian-ruled West Timor.
