Dili investigator called to Canberra as evidence of execution mounts

SMH.com

Lindsay Murdoch in Darwin
September 4, 2008

EAST TIMOR'S top prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro, is flying to Canberra to be briefed on the investigation into the February 11 dawn attacks in Dili.

Australian Federal Police forensic investigators have deciphered telephone calls that the rebel leader, Alfredo Reinado, made before he was shot dead at the home of East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta.

The investigation led by Mr Monteiro is at a critical impasse. Evidence gathered over the past seven months suggests Reinado may have been set up for execution in a conspiracy that includes at least one of his trusted lieutenants.

Mr Ramos-Horta has confirmed that the man who shot him twice in the back was not Marcelo Caetano, one of Reinado's men, as had been widely reported.

The AFP investigated telephone conversations Reinado had shortly before the attacks with a Timorese-born Jakarta gangster, Hercules Rozario Marcal. The telephone taken from Reinado's body had a listing for "Hercul".

Hercules, who has denied any involvement in the attacks, last month received approval to develop businesses in Dili.

The AFP has also investigated 47 telephone calls Reinado made to or received from Australia.

Potentially explosive developments in the investigation have been kept secret in East Timor, where Reinado was a cult hero.

Authorities fear an outbreak of violence if it becomes known that Reinado was not responsible for shooting the popular president, who received emergency surgery in Darwin.

The official version of events is that Reinado led rebels to the homes of Mr Ramos-Horta and the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, to either assassinate or kidnap them as part of an attempted coup.

Political figures in Dili have dismissed recent media speculation in Australia that Reinado and Mr Ramos-Horta had reached an impasse in negotiations at a meeting they held in the mountain village of Maubisse on January 13. The speculation was based on a tape recording of part of the meeting.

The Herald revealed four days after the attacks that during the meeting Mr Ramos-Horta offered to include Reinado in an amnesty to be announced on May 20, the anniversary of East Timor's independence.

"A deal was essentially done," said Joao Goncalves, the Minister for Economic Development, who was present at the meeting.

The Government in Dili is facing increasing pressure to establish an international inquiry into the attacks as Mr Monteiro has delayed for several months the completion of his investigation.

Jose Teixeira, a spokesman for Fretilin, the Opposition, said any further delay in setting up an international inquiry "ignores the wishes of Timorese who want to know the truth behind the attacks".

Mr Monteiro has denied seeing an autopsy report that was first published on the website Wikileaks purportedly showing that Reinado was shot at almost point-blank range.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/09/03/1220121329582.html