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| Southeast Asia |
| Crazed killer sez ''Nope. Wudn't me...'' |
| 2002-11-09 |
| Former pro-Indonesia militia leader Eurico Guterres, who three years ago ordered his followers to murder pro-independence East Timorese, now denies any wrongdoing and claims he is a victim of the government's desire to deflect international criticism. Guterres, 28, is being tried at Jakartaâs special human rights court for one of many atrocities committed in the months surrounding East Timorâs 1999 vote for independence. On April 17, 1999, he ordered his fighters to kill pro-independence supporters, including Manuel Viegas Carascalo and his family. Shortly after his speech, pro-Jakarta militiamen murdered 12 people at Carascaloâs residence in Dili, the capital of East Timor. Yep. Sounds like there might be a connection there... This is what the militia leader said at the time: âFrom today, 17 April 1999, I order all militias of pro-integration to clean up the traitors of integration, arrest and kill them⊠I, Eurico Guterres will be fully responsible.â Sounds like he's being held so, doesn't it? At the commencement of his trial on October 24, 2002, he told the court he felt no remorse because his violent actions in East Timor were based on his moral and legal obligation to fight for Indonesian sovereignty. "Yes. I had a moral obligation to wipe out entire families..." But on Thursday, Guterres claimed he could not be held responsible for the attack because he was not in control of the frenzied mob. "I'm not a monster who has no heart. I never ordered, directed or assisted people to injure or kill other people," he was quoted as saying by Agence-France Presse. "Well, maybe I did, but they had no obligation to listen to me, did they?" Reading out a lengthy defense plea, the former leader of the Aitarak (Thorn) militia group claimed he did not witness the attack and did not know who did it. "So therefore it never happened, and I can't be held responsible for something that never happened, right?" Guterres claims his current trial is politically motivated. âThis political trial is just a formality and in the end I will be punished," he was quoted as saying by AFP. "The reality I'm facing now is extremely ironic and painful. It's like I'm being dumped because I'm not useful anymore." Y'know, he's right. He's not useful anymore. In fact, he's an embarrassment to the Indons. He'll go down, but the current crop of terror artists won't associate that fact with their own current reality. Things like that only happen when you back the wrong side... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |