More Window Dressing than Punishment
Only three victims have turned up so far, to testify at the East Timor human rights abuse trials under way in Jakarta. If the trend continues, it may only be the perpetrators or the soldiers in the field who are sentenced in the end.
June 4, 2002
THESE trials are like a cute girl: you feel as if you need her, but she is always the subject of idle gossip. Welcome to the first ad hoc human rights courts in Indonesia, currently sitting at the Central Jakarta District Court and hearing cases of crimes against humanity in East Timor, the former `27th province' of Indonesia, which has just become the new nation of Timor Loro Sa'e. There are currently three cases underway involving seven defendant
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