Australian police yesterday announced a long-awaited war crimes investigation into the deaths of the “Balibo Five” journalists killed by Indonesian troops in 1975.
The surprise move comes nearly two years after a coroner’s investigation ruled the five Australia-based men were murdered in an East Timor border town as they tried to surrender to invading Indonesian forces.
The coroner called for war crimes charges against a number of generals, including one who rose to become Indonesia’s information minister in the late 1990s.
“Allegations of war crimes committed overseas give rise to complex legal and factual issues that require careful consideration by law enforcement agencies before deciding to investigate,” Australian Federal Police said in a statement.
The inquiry also follows the recent release of a hard-hitting movie, Balibo, depicting the deaths of Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie and New Zealander Gary Cunningham.
Jakarta has maintained the reporters died in crossfire as Indonesian troops fought East Timorese Fretilin rebels, a version of events accepted by successive Australian governments.
If enough evidence was found to show “criminality or a real possibility of criminality,” police will ask Australia’s chief prosecutor to consider whether war crimes charges should be laid.
“The standard of proof in a criminal proceeding is high and differs from that of a coronial inquiry,” police said.
The journalists were covering Indonesia’s advance into East Timor, then a Portuguese colony, at the beginning of a 24-year occupation marked by serious human rights abuses.
Sydney coroner Dorelle Pinch found in 2007 that they were murdered to keep the invasion a secret.
Paul Stewart, whose brother Tony, 21, was the youngest of the Balibo Five, said the investigation was long overdue.
He also called for a probe into the estimated 183,000 East Timorese deaths during Indonesia’s occupation.
“I am pleased at the move,” he said. “While they’re investigating my brother’s death, maybe they’d also like to look into my Timorese mates, the death of all their family members as well.”
Sydney coroner Pinch found the five were captured and “shot and or stabbed deliberately by members of the Indonesian Special Forces, including Christoforus Da Silva and Captain Yunus Yosfiah.”
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, a rebel leader at the time who investigated the deaths, said in July that at least one of the five was “brutally, brutally tortured.”
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