[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 91 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  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, and Mr. Leahy) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               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 killed 3 United Nations aid workers, including United States 
        citizen Carlos Caceres;
Whereas Caceres and the other victims were stabbed and hacked to death with 
        exceptional brutality, and their bodies were then set on fire and 
        dragged through the streets;
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'';
Whereas on May 4, 2001, an Indonesian court in Jakarta meted out only token 
        sentences to the murderers of Carlos Caceres and the other United 
        Nations workers, and failed to allot any punishment whatsoever to the 
        Indonesian military commanders alleged to have sanctioned this attack;
Whereas these token sentences have been 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 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 or sanctioned by the Indonesian military 
        in Aceh, Irian Jaya, and other parts of the Indonesia, both during and 
        since the end of the Suharto regime;
Whereas, despite Indonesian government promises of 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 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 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 
        proudly admitted to killing the United Nations workers in an unprovoked 
        attack, 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 in East Timor: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That (a) the Senate--
            (1) condemns the brutal murder of Carlos Caceres, a United 
        States citizen;
            (2) decries the inadequate sentences given by the 
        Indonesian judicial system to the self-confessed killers of the 
        3 United Nations aid workers;
            (3) calls on the Government of Indonesia to indict and 
        bring to trial the senior military commanders described in a 
        September 1, 2000, statement by the Government of Indonesia 
        itself, as suspects in the mass killings following the August, 
        1999 East Timor referendum; and
            (4) offers condolences to the family, friends, and 
        colleagues of Carlos Caceres and the other victims of the 
        September 6, 2000, attack.
    (b) It is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the President should, at every appropriate meeting with 
        officials of the Government of Indonesia, stress the importance 
        of ending the climate of impunity which shields those 
        individuals, especially senior members of the Indonesian 
        military, suspected of perpetrating, collaborating in, or 
        covering up extra judicial killings, torture, and other abuses 
        of human rights; and
            (2) the President should consider the willingness of the 
        Government of Indonesia to make rapid and substantive progress 
        in judicial reform 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>