Indonesian captain 'shot Balibo Five'

6th February 2007, 19:35 WST

An Indonesian special forces commander - later to become the country's minister for information - would have been the first soldier to open fire and kill one of the Balibo Five journalists in East Timor, a coronial inquest has been told.

An inquest into the death of one of the five journalists, cameraman Brian Peters, began in Sydney this week, more than 30 years after his death.

Mr Peters and four other journalists - Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart and Malcolm Rennie - were killed during an attack by Indonesian special forces troops on the Timorese border town of Balibo on October 16, 1975.

Official reports say the men were killed in crossfire between Indonesian troops and Timorese militia, but their families insist they were murdered.

The inquest on Tuesday heard evidence from an East Timorese witness who had trained with the Indonesian military, known only by the code name "Glebe 2". He said he saw four of the journalists raise their arms in the air "as though asking for mercy" from invading Indonesian soldiers.

He said Captain Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah, who became Indonesia's minister for information in the Habibie government in 1998, was the first to start shooting the men.

Counsel assisting the inquest, Mark Tedeschi, QC, asked Glebe 2: "Was Yunus Yosfiah the first soldier to shoot?"

Glebe 2 replied through a translator: "Yes, he was the first to open fire".

Later, during cross examination, the witness admitted he had not actually seen Mr Yosfiah start the shooting or kill Mr Peters.

But he told Mr Tedeschi that after Mr Yosfiah had opened fire, the other soldiers started shooting the men for two or three minutes.

Mr Yosfiah on Tuesday denied having anything to do with the killings, and called those making accusations against him "big liars".

"I never met the journalists," Mr Yosfiah told ABC Radio from Indonesia.

"It's a very, very, very bad if those journalists were killed on that time.

"It wasn't me. I never asked and I never ordered (the killings)."

Mr Yosfiah said he did not seek to appear at the inquest "because I know what I did and what I didn't do".

He said he had answered plenty of questions about the killings.

"There have been questions so many times before this," he told AAP.

During cross examination by John Stratton, SC, who is representing Mr Peters' sister Maureen Tolfree, Glebe 2 said while he did not actually see Mr Yosfiah open fire, Mr Peters was shot first.

When asked by Mr Stratton who he believed shot Brian Peters, Glebe 2 replied: "According to Indonesian military rules the commander has to fire first and then his men fire after, and I believe Yunus killed Brian Peters".

The witness said he was "fairly certain" that Mr Yosfiah was responsible for Mr Peters' death because the cameraman had been standing directly in front of Mr Yosfiah and was the first to fall.

The witness said senior military officials warned him not to tell anyone about the shooting of the journalists, telling him it was "top secret".

Glebe 2 said he was forced to issue false press releases and to lie to Australian investigators about the incident, but he finally told the truth to an Australian journalist in 1999 when he couldn't hold his silence any more.

"Because in East Timor I saw a lot of injustice and massacres and as an East Timorese I couldn't support that anymore," Glebe 2 said.

The inquest also heard evidence from a second East Timorese eyewitness, code named "Glebe 4", who said he saw Indonesian soldiers shoot three of the journalists at close range inside the house where they were staying.

The inquest before NSW Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch continues on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, East Timor's Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said there was no doubt the journalists were deliberately killed by Indonesian forces, and urged Indonesia to come clean and allow the reporters' families to move on.

"At least, let the truth emerge ... for the tranquillity of the families of these five newsmen," Mr Ramos-Horta said.

AAP
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