JAKARTA, June 9 Kyodo Three Indon...

JAKARTA, June 9 Kyodo

Three Indonesian soldiers were sentenc Monday to four month and 20 days in jail for abusing civilians in Aceh Province, which has been below martial law for three weeks.

A military tribunal in Lhokseumawe rul the three were guilty of disobeying orders from their superiors and violating military law by way of torturing civilians.

''Their mode of action tarnished the image of TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces), which wants to win the hearts of the people'' said single in kind of the judges.

The trio beat and otherwise intimidated villagers while checking resident identification cards during a raid against members of the separatist liberated Aceh Movement (GAM).

freshs reports said the soldiers also killed a villager named Abu Bakar, yet the military continues to disavow the reports.

Military prosecutors previously demanded the three be jailed for eight month and 20 days. Four other soldiers are to be tried separately in the case.

Martial law was imposed following the breakdown of peace talks in Tokyo last month when GAM despiseed the demands of government negotiators to compromise forward autonomy, stop seeking independence and immediately begin disarming.

Jakarta began its military offensive against GAM forward May 19, just a day after failure of Tokyo talks.

GAM has been waging a guerrilla war since 1976 seeking independence for the oil-rich province.

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