On 28 January 2000, Australian news media reported that an Australian coroner ruled a Dutch journalist shot dead in East Timor was probably killed by Indonesian troops. Northern Territory, Australia, coroner Greg Cavanagh was handing down his findings from an investigation into the killing of Sander Thoenes, 30, whose mutilated body was found in the […]
On 28 January 2000, Australian news media reported that an Australian coroner ruled a Dutch journalist shot dead in East Timor was probably killed by Indonesian troops. Northern Territory, Australia, coroner Greg Cavanagh was handing down his findings from an investigation into the killing of Sander Thoenes, 30, whose mutilated body was found in the East Timorese capital Dili on 22 September 1999.
The “Sydney Morning Herald” said the coroner found Thoenes had been shot in the back, probably after he fell off a motorbike. It quoted the coroner as saying: “I find that on all of the evidence available thus far, it is probable that a member or members of the 745 battalion of the TNI (Indonesian army) shot the deceased.” However, because witnesses had not been made fully available for examination, he was unable to completely discount the possibility that the killers were people dressed as TNI, the “Sydney Morning Herald” said.
The coroner conducted the inquiry in Darwin, Australia, because Thoenes’s body was flown there the day he was found. An autopsy conducted on 24 September in Darwin found Thoenes had been mutilated, the “Sydney Morning Herald” said. His left ear had been cut off and there were cuts on his face. The newspaper said the coroner was told such mutilations were typical of pro-Indonesian Timorese who made up the Indonesian army’s 745 battalion. Thoenes’s driver, Florinda Da Conceiro Araujo, told the investigation he turned his motorcycle to leave after six armed people in
TNI uniforms signalled them to stop. The motorbike fell and Araujo fled the scene as the six began shooting, the “Sydney Morning Herald” said.
Background Information
On Monday 4 October, Australia’s Major-General Peter Cosgrove, commander of the United Nations-authorised International Force in East Timor (Interfet), said that he had sent a letter to the Indonesian military (see IFEX alerts). This demanded that Indonesia hand over four soldiers believed to have been involved in Thoenes’ death and in an earlier, non-fatal attack on journalists Jon Swain and photographer Chip Hires, their driver, and their translator.
Thoenes, a correspondent for “The Financial Times” and contributor to “The Christian Science Monitor” and “Vrij Nederland”, was the first of two journalists killed in East Timor during violence after its people voted for independence from Indonesia. Agus Muliawan, 26, an Indonesian journalist working for the Japanese news agency Asia Press International was gunned down with a group of Catholic church workers on 25 September (see IFEX alerts of 30 and 28 September 1999).
A total of six international media workers were killed during Indonesia’s 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony. Organisations such as the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Australian colleagues have called for further investigations into continuing allegations they
were deliberately killed by Indonesian forces or forces under Indonesian control (see IFEX alerts).
