Doubts on warrant lift Wiranto's campaign (E. Timor human rights abuses)

[Ediacara]

Doubts on warrant lift Wiranto's campaign

By Matthew Moore, Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
May 13, 2004

East Timor's top prosecutor has said there "might be some defects" in an indictment against former and serving Indonesian officers accused of human rights abuses in a move that appears certain to sink any further attempts to prosecute them.

The prosecutor-general of East Timor, Longuinhos Monteiro, wrote to the judge at the Special Panel for Serious Crimes in the Dili District Court on Monday. Dr Monteiro requested the court to allow him to review the 15,000-page indictment filed with the court by his office on February 24 last year.

He sent the letter just hours after an American judge on the Special Panel issued an arrest warrant for the former Indonesian armed forces commander, Wiranto. The former general is accused of responsibility for the deaths of some 1500 Timorese in 1999.

The doubts will boost Wiranto's campaign for Indonesia's presidency, allowing him to dismiss accusations he is guilty of human rights abuses.

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