UNMIT – MEDIA MONITORING - Thursday, 04 October 2007

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National Media Reports

GNR and ISF to capture Railos

The GNR and International Security Forces (ISF) captured Mr. Vicente da Conceicao alias ‘Railos’ on Tuesday in Liquica district. Mr. Railos is alleged to have led armed civilians in an attack on the F-FDTL in Tasi Tolu during last year’s military and political crisis.

Mr. Railos is now in the preventive prison of Dili district with other five young men.

Longuinhos Monteiro, the Attorney General reportedly said that the arrest made by ISF and GNR based on evidence relating to the alleged trading of illegal weapons during last year;s crisis.
“The process of justice will be executed quickly” said Mr. Monteiro. (DN and STL)

MR. Railos was arrested pursuant to an arrest warrant issued on September 13, 2007 for his alleged role in the events of the 24th and 25th of May last year in Tasi Tolu.

UN, considers Railos arrest has legal base

The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) has confirmed that Vicente do Conceicao, alias “Railos” was arrested early this morning at his residence near Liquiça.

He was arrested pursuant to an arrest warrant issued on September 13, 2007 for his alleged role in the events of the 24th and 25th of May last year.

Railos has been charged for violating Articles 338 and 55 of the Penal Code, related to homicide, and are expected to appear in Court in Dili later today.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste, Mr Atul Khare, welcomed the arrest as a continued sign of the continued strong commitment of the authorities of Timor-Leste to implement recommendations of the UN Special Commission of Inquiry Report issued in October last year.

UN police officers, assisted by the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) and the International Security Forces (ISF) have been positioned in sensitive locations to maintain a calm situation. (DN)

Benevides: withdrawal of mandate to capture of Alfredo does not mean Alfredo will not submit himself to the justice

The Lawyer for Alfredo Reinado, Benevides Correia Barros said on Wednesday that the declaration of the president of the Court of Appeal, Claudio Ximenes calling upon all authorities to obey the law regarding to the mandate of capturing Alfredo Reinado, is incorrect.

According to Mr. Barros Mr Ximenes has misunderstood the situation because the withdrawal of the arrest warrant for Reinado does not mean that Reinado will not submit himself to the justice.

President José Ramos-Horta has stated that to solve the Reinado problem, military operations should be halted and the arrest warrant should be withdrawn. (TP)

International Media Reports

EAST TIMOR: Arrest of Railos welcomed by UN - 04/10/2007
04 Oct. 07Radio ABC News

Another high profile arrest has been made in East Timor in relation to violence which tore the small nation apart last year. "Railos" or Vicente da Conceicao is alleged to have led armed civilians in attacks against East Timor's military personnel. The clashes began within East Timor's fractious security forces, and spread to the broader community, resulting in 38 deaths and the displacement of more than 100,000 people. The crisis saw a renewed United Nations security presence and contributed to the downfall of the government of Mari Alkatiri. The latest arrest comes a year after evidence implicating Railos and others came to light.

There's been another high profile arrest made in relation to last year's deadly riots. "Railos" or Vicente da Conceicao is alleged to have led armed civilians in attacks against East Timor's military personnel in May. The crisis saw a renewed United Nations security presence and contributed to the downfall of the Government of Mari Alkatiri.
Presenter - Karon Snowdon

Karon Snowdon Speaker - Alison Cooper, spokeswoman for the UN mission in East Timor

Alison Cooper the spokeswoman for the UN mission in East Timor

SNOWDON: Railos has finally been arrested for his alleged role in the events of the 24th and 25th of May last year. Two months of mayhem starting in April erupted after 600 disgruntled soldiers were sacked by the government. Those two days alone in May saw 19 people killed including members of the army, the police force and civilians -some of them children - as attacks on the army were then followed by apparent reprisals. Railos, a former army recruit, is accused of leading a group of civilians armed with military weapons supplied by former Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato who is now serving a gaol sentence for his role. In evidence given to the UN commission of inquiry, Railos claimed then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was present at the meeting where the distribution of the weapons was discussed. Dr Alkatiri has denied the allegations or that he ordered the elimination of political opponents as was also claimed by Railos. I spoke to UN spokeswoman Alison Cooper after the arrest was made.

COOPER: The special representative of the Secretary General has welcomed the arrest. He sees it as a continued sign of the strong commitment of authorities in Timor Leste to making sure this judicial process, and especially a process that follows the recommendations of the UN special commission of inquiry report, which was issued in October last year.

SNOWDON: Yes it was October last year, so a lot of time has passed for these issues to finally be brought to book as it were. Is it disappointing it's taken so long?

COOPER: No I mean that's really something that the Office of the Prosecutor General would need to discuss.

SNOWDON: Phone calls to the prosecutors’ office were unsuccessful. Over the past months, various accounts of Railos had him either on the run or openly operating in his home town of Liquica for the past year. Given his role in accusations against former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri he has become enemy no 1 of Alkatiri's Fretilin Party. Fretilin claimed Railos was actively campaigning on behalf of the opposition groups supporting Xanana Gusmao during this year's elections. Gusmao was ultimately elected and appointed Prime Minister. Yet East Timor remains in the grip of last year's crisis. International Security forces are on alert.

COOPER: Well the events over the past 18 months have shown that there is a volatility to the security situation in this country. There are security forces stationed across the country today, aware of the arrest that's gone on, and we believe that they will maintain calm.

SNOWDON: Many thousands of people remain in refugee camps, some have no homes to return to, others seem almost habituated to camp life. Last month the trial began in Dili of 12 defendents, mostly members of the army, charged over the shooting of unarmed police on the 25th of May last year in one of the most serious crimes during the crisis. And the other high profile fugitive, Alfredo Reinado - the former head of military police implicated in an attack in which five died - remains at large.

COOPER: There are still other cases within the report that the UN would like to see followed up. We're confident that they will be followed up. So today's arrest is significant and it's very much welcomed.


NATIONAL NEWS SOURCES:
Timor Post (TP)
Radio Timor-Leste (RTL)
Suara Timor Lorosae (STL)
Diario Tempo (DT)
Diario Nacional (DN)
Semanario
Televisaun Timor-Leste (TVTL)