A U.N.-led panel indicted a notorious militia leader, East Timor’s former police chief and 47 others Friday on charges of crimes against humanity during violence that swept the territory in 1999. Eurico Guterres, once the leader of the feared Aitarak militia, and Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen, the former police chief, were charged along with the others for crimes including murder, inhumane acts and forced disappearance. On Tuesday, prosecutors also indicted Indonesia’s ex-military chief Wiranto for the violence that killed 1,000 and forced 250,000 from their homes before and after the vote. The indictments are the latest efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the violence in East Timor, which gained its independence in May and is the world’s youngest nation. On Friday, East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao criticized the indictment of Wiranto and seven other senior Indonesian officers. Gusmao, who cannot intervene, has said impoverished East Timor should be more concerned with forging strong economic ties and good relations with its neighbor than pursuing the suspects. Full Story
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