A respected civil society organization in Timor-Leste today sent a letter to the UN Security Council in New York calling Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and President Jose Ramos-Horta’s stance on justice “out of step” with most people in the country.

“When Timor-Leste politicians tell you that our people don't want justice, do not believe them,” said the La’o Hamutuk Justice Team in the letter, citing a 2008 survey by the Asia Foundation, which found that 90% of respondents thought murder should never go unpunished.

The majority of Timorese people believe “that people who commit serious crimes must be brought to trial in a legitimate judicial process”.

L’ao Hamutuk accused Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, of achieving “little concrete result” over the August 30 release of Indonesian former militia leader Maternus Bere, who was indicted by the UN for his role in a string of human rights violations, including the 1999 Suai church massacre.

“Like others in the UN system, she puts the entire responsibility for this impunity on Timor-Leste’s leaders,” said La’o Hamutuk.

“Although the president and prime minister of this country sprung Bere from jail (in response to Indonesian threats), Indonesia itself provided sanctuary for him for the past six years, and the United Nations has failed to take any steps to assist service of the indictment against him and the 300 other [Serious Crimes Unit] indictees protected by Indonesia.”

La’o Hamutuk added that failure to act and bring Bere to justice would overturn the position of the UN that there must be no impunity for serious violations of international humanitarian law.

“The governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste have shown they “do not have the will or the capacity to end impunity.”