(CPJ/IFEX) – An Indonesian journalist was among the group of nine people massacred by Indonesia troops in East Timor on Saturday 25 September 1999, according to wire service reports. Agus Muliawan, 26, was affiliated with the Tokyo-based news organization Asia Press International. He had been in East Timor for more than two months, working on […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – An Indonesian journalist was among the group of nine people
massacred by Indonesia troops in East Timor on Saturday 25 September 1999,
according to wire service reports.
Agus Muliawan, 26, was affiliated with the Tokyo-based news organization
Asia Press International. He had been in East Timor for more than two
months, working on a television documentary about Falintil, the largest of
several East Timorese guerrilla groups that favor independence from
Indonesia.
Muliawan was traveling by van with a group that included the head of the
Caritas Roman Catholic aid agency, two students at the local seminary, two
nuns, two assistants to the nuns and a driver, according to the bishop of
Baucau, Basilio das Nacimento, who was quoted by Reuters.
Indonesian troops apparently ambushed the group after nightfall in the town
of Com, as they drove from Lospalos to Baucau to assess humanitarian needs
there. Seven bodies were found floating in the Raomoko River thirty-eight
miles from Baucau. Two bodies were found in the van, which had been pushed
into the river.
The president of Asia Press International, Akihiro Nonaka, told Agence
France Press (AFP) that Falintil Commander Falur Ratalaek had confirmed
Muliawan’s death in East Timor.
Multinational peacekeeping troops reached Com via helicopter on Tuesday 28
September and arrested fifteen people suspected in connection with the
killings.
Muliawan is the second journalist killed in East Timor in the past week:
Sander Thoenes, 30, a Dutch correspondent for the “Financial Times”, was
shot outside Dili on 21 September (see IFEX alerts of 23 September, 22
September and 21 September 1999).
