[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 91 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

  1st Session
S. RES. 91

 Condemning the murder of a United States citizen and other civilians, 
  and expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the failure of the 
 Indonesian judicial system to hold accountable those responsible for 
                             the killings.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 21, 2001

 Mr. Nelson of Florida (for himself, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. 
 Harkin) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

                              June 5, 2001

   Reported by Mr. Helms, with an amendment and an amendment to the 
                                preamble

                             June 20, 2001

                   Considered, amended, and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the murder of a United States citizen and other civilians, 
  and expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the failure of the 
 Indonesian judicial system to hold accountable those responsible for 
                             the killings.

Whereas on September 6, 2000, a paramilitary mob in the West Timor town of 
        Atambua brutally killed 3 United Nations aid workers, including United 
        States citizen Carlos Caceres, in an unprovoked attack;
Whereas Caceres, an attorney originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, whose family 
        now resides in the State of Florida, had e-mailed a plea for help saying 
        that ``the militias are on their way,'' and that ``we sit here like 
        bait'' before he and the others were killed;
Whereas on May 4, 2001, an Indonesian court in Jakarta handed down only token 
        sentences to the murderers of Carlos Caceres and the other United 
        Nations workers, and failed to allot any punishment to the Indonesian 
        military personnel alleged to have sanctioned this attack;
Whereas these token sentences were condemned as ``wholly unacceptable'' by 
        United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, and described by the 
        Department of State as acts that ``call into question Indonesia's 
        commitment to the principle of criminal accountability'';
Whereas the self-confessed killer of Carlos Caceres, a pro-government militia 
        member named Julius Naisama, was sentenced to spend not more than 20 
        months in jail, and remarked afterwards, ``I accept the sentence with 
        pride'';
Whereas the murders of Carlos Caceres and the other United Nations workers fit a 
        pattern of killings perpetrated, sanctioned, or condoned by certain 
        elements within the Indonesian military in Timor, both during and since 
        the end of the Suharto regime;
Whereas, despite the stated intent of the Government of Indonesian to put into 
        place a system of increased judicial accountability, since the 
        initiation of democratic rule in Indonesia in 1998, no senior military 
        official has been put on trial for human rights abuses, extrajudicial 
        killings, torture, or incitement to mob violence; and
Whereas the Government of Indonesia could probably have prevented both the 
        murder of the United Nations workers and the subsequent miscarriage of 
        justice if the government had--
            (1) upheld its explicit commitment, made after the August, 1999, 
        referendum in East Timor, to ensure that Indonesian military forces 
        would safeguard United Nations workers and Timorese refugees from 
        attacks by the paramilitary militias on the island who had killed 
        approximately 1,000 East Timorese civilians in the preceding weeks;
            (2) brought charges of murder or manslaughter against the 6 men who 
        admitted to killing the United Nations workers, rather than only the 
        lesser charge of conspiring to foment violence; and
            (3) brought charges against senior military commanders who, 
        according to the United Nations, the Department of State, and the 
        Government of Indonesia itself, are suspected of arming and directing 
        the paramilitary militias responsible for the carnage on Timor: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That (a) the Senate--
            (1) condemns the brutal murder of Carlos Caceres, a United 
        States citizen, and the other United Nations aid workers, and 
        offers condolences to their families, friends, and colleagues;
            (2) decries the inadequately disproportionate sentences 
        handed down by the Indonesian court to the self-confessed 
        killers of the United Nations aid workers;
            (3) calls on the prosecutorial organs of the Government of 
        Indonesia to indict and bring to trial the senior military 
        commanders described in a September 1, 2000, statement by that 
        government as suspects in the mass killings following the 
        August, 1999, East Timor referendum.
    (b) It is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) officials of the Department of State should, at every 
        appropriate meeting with officials of the Government of 
        Indonesia, stress the importance of ending the climate of 
        impunity that shields those individuals, including senior 
        members of the Indonesian military, suspected of perpetrating, 
        collaborating in, or covering up extra-judicial killings and 
        abuses of human rights in Indonesia; and
            (2) the President should consider the willingness of the 
        Government of Indonesia to make substantive progress in 
        judicial reform, and in the criminal accountability of those 
        responsible for human rights abuse on the island of Timor, 
        among those factors taken into account when determining the 
        level of financial support provided by the United States to 
        Indonesia, whether directly or through international financial 
        institutions.
    Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
resolution to the President.
                                 <all>