Indonesian prosecutors are ready to present 12 dossiers on gross human rights violations committed in East Timor in 1999 to an ad hoc tribunal as soon as it is set up, a spokesman for the prosecutors said today.
|
|
Australian soldiers on patrol in East Timor
|
The long-awaited human rights tribunal is now closer than ever to being established, following a decree issued by President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday ordering that it be set up.
The decree came six months after parliament agreed to allow the prosecution of human rights crimes in Indonesia, and in the midst of a chorus of international criticism of Jakarta's slowness in prosecuting those responsible for the wave of terror in East Timor.
But how much longer it will take to actually set up the tribunal is unclear.
"That's up to the government," attorney general's office spokesman Mulyoharjo told AFP.
"We are ready with the dossiers, the problem is we still don't have an appropriate court."
The time taken to set up the court depended on the will of the government to prosecute those responsible for the violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 vote for independence, said one rights activist.
"If there is strong political will it can be set up in one or two weeks," Asmara Nababan, secretary general of Indonesia's Human Rights Commission, told AFP.
AFP