Questions continue six months after Reinado's death

also East Timor rebel leader may have been executed: report

Questions continue six months after Reinado's death
By Stephanie March

DILI, Aug 13 AAP - Six months ago Victor Alvez's voice rang out through radios and televisions, appealing for peace and calm from the people of East Timor.

He had just buried his son-in-law, Alfredo Reinado, in the front yard of a home down Dili's back streets, next to the body of Leopoldinio Exposto, who was also shot and killed at the home of President Jose Ramos Horta by military guards.

His calls were prompted by fears of a violent backlash by supporters of the former soldier turned fugitive rebel.

To many people's surprise, the streets of Dili remained calm.

Today, down that dusty backstreet, the sun filters through the vines covering an archway over the two graves, lighting up the dozens of bright plastic flowers left by family and friends over the past week.

The streets of Dili may have remained quiet over the past six months, but Victor Alvez's life is far from peaceful.

"I am so sad; I will never stop thinking of him," he said.

"It's the same for his friends and family - even after six months these feelings remain so strongly."

Alvez has always professed his son-in-law's innocence against allegations he had plotted to kill or kidnap the president.

His spirits have been lifted by a report in The Australian newspaper that top forensic scientists say it was possible Reinado was executed at close range, confirming suspicions he was lured down from his mountain hideout to the president's home.

"If he wanted to kill Horta, he could have done that on February in Maliana when they had a meeting, why he not kill him there?," Alvez said.

"He is trained military; it is easy for him to kill. If he went there to kill people all of Horta's guards would be dead."

Alvez says he has been receiving anonymous phone calls from people who say they witnessed the shooting, and who also believe Reinado was lured into a trap.

But despite the ongoing criminal investigation into the events of February 11, he has little faith that those behind the incident will ever be brought to justice.

""We really do not know yet who was behind it, but I know it's because of the politics."

He is not the only one who is having doubts about the investigation.

A detailed report into the shooting by the UN is complete but unreleased, while the criminal investigation by the prosecutor-general has run overtime and is being seriously questioned in Dili.

The UN had refused to release the report into events immediately following the shootings, so as not to interfere with the criminal investigation.

Charged with leading that investigation is prosecutor-general Longuinhos Monteiro, whose credibility is in serious doubt.

A UN report into the violence of 2006 said Monteiro followed blindly the policy of the president who appointed him, Xanana Gusmao, and as a result he did not "function independently from the state of East Timor."

"The man in charge - the prosecutor-general - has already in our eyes proved himself to be anything but politically impartial," said opposition Fretilin MP Jose Teixeira.

Despite the expertise of dozens of international investigators carrying out the prosecutor general's orders, the chance of uncovering what really happened may have already be lost.

There have been allegations Reinado was high on drugs and had been drinking the night before was killed, but sources close to the investigation say toxicological tests may not have been done during the autopsies.

Alvez says his son-in-law was a person who "doesn't like to drink a lot of alcohol," and would only do so if it were culturally necessary on certain social occasions.

A leaked UN report found the National Investigation Department has encountered "political and military interference" as well as a lack of cooperation. Poor handling of evidence - including the weapons used by the rebels - has also botched the investigation.

A source close to the investigation said the F-FDTL soldiers guarding the president's home took Reinado's cell phone off his body, and continued to receive and make calls for days after his death, before handing them over to investigators.

"They could (also) have deleted some numbers, some messages, we don't know," the source told AAP.

The F-FDTL refused to respond to these allegations, and neither the UN report or those involved in the investigation can say if their actions were the result of malfeasance, or innocent mistakes.

While Alvez's heart aches for his lost son-in-law, and has little hope his name will ever be cleared, he himself is steadfast that Reinado was nothing more than an innocent victim of politics.

""My heart says that is not true, but if the decision comes out saying he is guilty, maybe that is the justice in this world, but for me the decision will be made by God and I hope he will give justice."

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East Timor rebel leader may have been executed: report

DILI, Aug 13 (AFP) -- East Timor rebel leader Alfredo Reinado may
have been executed rather than killed in a gunbattle during an attack
on President Jose Ramos-Horta, a report said Wednesday.

The Australian newspaper said it had obtained the autopsy reports for
Reinado and fellow rebel Leopoldino Exposto which showed they had
been shot at very close range at the president's house in February.

Exposto was shot once in the direct centre of the back of his head,
typical of an execution-style killing, the paper said.

The findings suggested that the rebels could have been lured down
from their mountain hideout into a trap or had been held before being
shot, The Australian said.

Official reports of the incident say Ramos-Horta was critically
wounded and Reinado was killed during a firefight in an assassination
attempt at the president's compound on the outskirts of Dili.

But forensic pathologist Muhammad Nurul Islam, who conducted the
autopsies, said Reinado and Exposto were killed "at close range" with
a high-velocity rifle, The Australian reported.

Nurul said there were no toxicological testing facilities at the Dili
morgue and that suggestions that Reinado was either drunk or on drugs
could never be confirmed or denied.

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's motorcade also came under attack in
Dili on February 11, but he was unhurt, while Ramos-Horta spent weeks
recovering from his wounds in an Australian hospital before returning
to East Timor.

Ramos-Horta won the Nobel peace prize in 1996 for two decades of work
representing the former Portuguese colony later occupied by Indonesia
and last year became its second president since independence in 2002.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service

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