INDONESIA: COURT SENTENCES FORMER MILITARY CHIEF IN EAST TIMOR BRIGADIER GENERAL MUHAMMAD NOER MOEIS TO FIVE YEARS JAIL FOR FAILING TO HALT MASSACRES

Record ID: 647716

  • Title: INDONESIA: COURT SENTENCES FORMER MILITARY CHIEF IN EAST TIMOR BRIGADIER GENERAL MUHAMMAD NOER MOEIS TO FIVE YEARS JAIL FOR FAILING TO HALT MASSACRES
  • Date: 13th March 2003
  • Summary: (U3) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (MARCH 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF INDONESIA'S COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS; MV JUDGES ENTERING COURT ROOM AND TAKING SEAT (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SCU DEFENCE LAWYERS 0.14 3. MV DEFENDANT BRIGADIER-GENERAL MUHAMMAD NOER MOEIS ENTERS COURT AND SALUTES THE JUDGE 0.24 4. MV PEOPLE WATCHING SENTENCE; MV NOER MOEIS SITTING IN FRONT OF JUDGE; SCU NOER MOEIS; MV JUDGE READING OUT VERDICT 0.40 6. (SOUNDBITE)(Bahasa) JUDGE ANDRIANI NURDIN SAYING "The defendant Brigadier-General Muhammad Noer Moeis has by law been proven guilty of failing to prevent human right violations conducted by his subordinates." 0.59 7. MV/SCU NOER MOEIS LISTENING 1.10 8. (SOUNDBITE)(Bahasa) JUDGE ANDRIANI NURDIN SAYING: "I hereby announce that the defendant is found guilty and is sentenced to five years in jail." 1.18 9. SLV COURT; MV MILITARY OFFICIALS SITTING AMONG SPECTATORS; SLV COURT BEING DISMISSED; MV PHOTOGRAPHERS (5 SHOTS) 1.52 10. MV MOEIS'S WIFE HUGGING HER HUSBAND; MV NOER MOEIS SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS 2.05 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa) NOER MOEIS SAYING "I will accept any decision that will be taken by Indonesia's courts of justice and accept its consequences. The next step for me will be appealing this court's decision." 2.22 12. MV MOEIS SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS 2.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 28th March 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVAEWGFYU3WQXGQ5G6VBJL07L0F6
  • Story Text: An Indonesian court has sentenced a former military
    chief in East Timor to five years in jail for failing to halt
    massacres when the territory voted to break away from
    Jakarta's rule in 1999.

    Indonesia's human rights court has convicted a former
    military chief in East Timor, Brigadier-General Muhammad Noer
    Moeis, of crimes against humanity. The verdict was handed down
    in the Jakarta-based court on Wednesday (March 12, 2003).

    Moeis took control of Indonesia's 10,000 troops in East
    Timor during the territory's bloody 1999 independence vote. He
    is the highest-ranking security official to be convicted in
    the trials against 18 suspects. Prosecutors had previously
    told the court that Moeis failed to act on information about
    increasing tensions between pro-Indonesian and
    pro-independence Timorese which had already begun to
    destabilise the territory before his arrival.

    Reading out the verdict, presiding judge Adriani Nurdin
    told the court: "The defendant Brigadier-General Muhammad Noer
    Moeis has by law been proven guilty of failing to prevent
    human right violations conducted by his subordinates."
    Prosecutors had demanded a 10-year jail term for the
    ex-army chief. The crime carries the maximum penalty of death.

    Moeis, a colonel when the alleged crimes took place, told
    reporters he would appeal. "I will accept any decision that
    will be taken by Indonesia's courts of justice and accept its
    consequences. The next step for me will be appealing this
    court's decision."
    Prosecutors had said that while Moeis was not an active
    perpetrator, he did nothing to stop the violence by
    pro-Jakarta militiamen who were backed by elements of the
    Indonesian military.

    The militia groups went on a rampage after the poll in
    which East Timorese overwhelmingly voted to break away from
    Indonesia. The United Nations estimates 1,000 people were
    killed.

    East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was run by the
    U.N. after the independence vote until May last year when it
    was declared formally independent.


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