Massacre leader jailed

last updated 8 January 2015

Dili, East Timor

Eurico Guterres, a pro-Indonesian militia leader who led a bloody rampage against democratic activists in East Timor, was sentenced this week to 10 years in prison. In August 1999, when the East Timorese voted to break away from Indonesia, the military and their militia allies killed nearly 1,000 civilians. Television cameras caught Guterres storming the home of a pro-independence activist. Twelve civilians were killed in that attack. Guterres will serve no time until all appeals are exhausted, which could take years. Till then, he remains defiant. “I never have regrets about what I did,” he said. “What I did was for Indonesia.”