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| A journalist in a Timor-Leste Press Club t-shirt pays his respects with flowers at the Santa Cruz tomb of Sebastiao Gomes whose killing by Indonesian soldiers triggered the 1991 mourner protest and massacre. Photo: David Robie |
East Timor declared independence in 1975 but Indonesia invaded in December that year and brutally occupied the country for the next quarter of a century.
In a statement issued to mark the 22nd anniversary of the
Santa Cruz cemetery massacre of at least 270 mourners by Indonesian soldiers in
the capital of Dili on 12 November 1991, the Timor-Leste International Tribunal
Alliance (ANTI) declared that "truth and justice" were the foundations
for a developing democracy in the Asia-Pacific state.
Condemning the "depravity" of the illegal
occupation of Timor-Leste by Indonesian forces, ANTI said the "impacts of
impunity continue to haunt the Indonesian and Timorese people".
- International community help to create a "credible justice mechanism".
- Australia, France, United Kingdom and the United States
- which supported the military regime of Suharto and its occupation of
Timor-Leste from 1975 to 1999 - to give priority to the victims and their
families.
- United Nations member states to refuse to issue visas to current and former Indonesian military officials who have been accused in the Chega report over alleged human rights atrocities.
- Timor-Leste to ratify the International Convention on
the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances in a bid to locate
many missing civilians.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao; Opposition Fretilin leader
Dr Mari Alkatiri; Gregorio Saldanha, coordinator of the 12 November Committee
for the victims of the Santa Cruz massacre; and many young Timorese leaders
spoke or read poetry of peace at the cemetery ceremony.
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