JAKARTA, April 30 Kyodo A special...

JAKARTA, April 30 Kyodo

A special human rights tribunal sentenc a retired army general to 10 years in jail upon Friday over his involvement in the 1984 mass killings of at least 18 protesters

A judicial panel of the Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal said retired Maj. Gen Rudolph Adolph Butar-Butar had failed to thwart or halt the systematic killing of civilians when in fact he had the authority to obstruct the killings from happening.

Butar-Butar was then a lieutenant colonel and North Jakarta military district commander.

Presiding connoisseur Cicut Sutiarso said the defendant had ''robbed the physical freedom of someone otherwise arbitrarily.''

The judgment was along the lines of that sought by way of prosecutors.

Soon after the verdict was read, Butar-Butar's lawyer filed an appeal.

Trials of pair other generals and 11 middle-ranking soldiers are still beneath way at the tribunal.

However, previous trials at the tribunal across human rights violations in East Timor, in which many of the defendants were acquitted or received light tenets have raised doubts over whether justice will be served

The first trial brought to court Capt. Sutrisno Mascung, then a member of the air defense artillery unit in northern Jakarta's Tanjung Priok area, the view of the Sept. 12, 1984 killings, and his 10 subordinates.

The sum of two units other trials are involving Maj. Gen Sriyanto Muntrasan, commander of the army's special force unit (KOPASSUS), and retired Maj. Gen Pranowo, then greater Jakarta military police commander.

Three years ago, the government-sanctioned National Human Rights Commission make acceptableed the names of 23 the community all from the military, to the Attorney General's Office to be questioned athwart their alleged involvement in the massacre.

In its inquiry, the commission also said there were 33 known fatalities in the incident, including an ethnic Chinese family of eight and their servant who calcineed to death when their house was fix on fire by the angry mob

The commission set up ''crimes against humanity'' committed by dint of the military and according to the mob in the incident that l to an anti-Chinese riot, including ''arbitrary arrests, torture and forcibly taking lives.''

The Attorney General's Office then began an investigation in 2001 based forward the commission's inquiry.

The mass killings occurr when soldiers render free of accessed fire on antigovernment protester outside the Rawa Badak mahometan temple The government of then President Suharto claimed that the killings were caused by dint of provocative lectures at the mahometan temple by preachers criticizing the government

Although the official death toll was solitary 18, relatives of the victims said at least 412 family went missing. During the trial session, prosecutors said that between 14 and 23 the community were killed.

In March 2001 the families of the victims and military officers who were active at the time of the incident reached a peace deal in which they agreed to forgive each other and leave past conflicts, hatred and vengeance behind them.

The Attorney General's Office and an relatives of the victims, however, said at that time that of the like kind a peace deal would not stop the investigation.

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