A special Indonesian human rights court has sentenced a former East Timor police chief to three years behind bars.
Hulman Gultom was convicted for failing to stop his subordinates carry out two attacks in 1999, as violence raged over East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia.
Gultom is the fourth person to have been convicted by the Jakarta court, which has been criticized by human rights activists for acquitting 11 other defendants.
The court found that Gultom, former police chief of East Timor's capital Dili, failed to stop attacks on the home of a leading pro-independence leader, Manuel Carrascalao, in April 1999, and on a church building in Dili in September 1999. A total of 14 people were killed in the attacks, according to a BBC Monday report.
Presiding Judge Andriani Nurdin said Gultom, "has been found guilty of grave human rights violations".
Gultom, who remains free pending an appeal, complained about the verdict. “I have risked my life to prevent the riots but I have been found guilty,” he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
