Adam Damiri
Name: Adam Rachmat Damiri
Date and place of birth: 20 November 1949
Education: Military Academy (1972)
Career:·
- 1997-1998: Chief of Staff Jakarta garrison
- November 1999: Commander (Pangdam) of military area (Kodam) IX, Udayana, which includes East Timor
- December 1999: promoted to operational assistant to the armed forces chief of staff at Armed Forces Headquarters in Jakarta. He was then responsible for troop movements to Aceh. He has not been removed after his conviction in Jakarta.
He is now pensioned (purnawirawan).
Allegedly involved in human rights violations:·
- Timor Leste referendum (1999)(Source: ICTJ – An Unfinished Truth): According to a key witness whose identifying information has been redacted, on 27 November 1998 he attended a meeting at the KOREM, with pro-autonomy leaders at the invitation of Eurico Guterres. The Panglima of Udayana (Adam Damiri), Tono Suratman (Commander of the KOREM), the Panglima’s Intelligence assistant (Edy Soenadi) and General Simbolon (currently the Panglima of Irian Jaya Province) also attended the meeting. Other autonomy supporters at the meeting included Eurico Guterres, Joao Tavares, Tomas Goncalves, and three others whose identity is protected. Adam Damiri allegedly facilitated the meeting and began it with a discussion of how to organize a pro-autonomy campaign.He appointed Eurico Guterres the leader of Gadapaksi at this meeting, but Guterres complained that he had no money. In response Damiri reportedly promised Guterres to support Garda Paksi by giving him 50 billion rupiah.476 Tono Suratman also allegedly issued a statement of moral support to the pro-integration leaders: “Tono Suratman said that he was there to support the invited pro-autonomy leaders and said that he, like us, was also a pro-integration fighter.”[1],[2].(Source: CAVR, Chega!)
- On 17 April 1999, at the end of a pro-autonomy rally in front of the Governor’s Office in Dili attended by Governor of East Timor, the District Administrator of Dili, the Mayor of Dili, the provincial military commander, Colonel Tono Suratman, the Assistant for Operations to the Army Chief of Staff, Major General Kiki Syahnakri, the Regional Military Commander (Udayana), Adam Damiri, and two other senior military officers, Aitarak militia conducted a violent rampage, culminating with the attack on the house of Manuel Carrascalão where hundreds of displaced persons had sought refuge[3].
Trial procedures:
Indonesian human rights court on East Timor: 1 July 2002: indicted before the Indonesian Court for crimes against humanity - in relation to·
- massacre in Liquica (6 April 1999),·
- massacre in Dili private houses of Leandro Isaac and Manuel Carrascalao (17 April 1999)·
- massacre at Dili Diocese (5 September 1999)·
- massacre at Bishop Belo's house, Dili (6 September 1999)·
- massacre at Suai church (6 September 1999)
There were two charges[4]:·
- Murder as a crime against humanity in violation of Art. 9 (a) of Indonesia's law 26 of 2000 on human rights courts using Art. 42 (1) Military Command Responsibility.·
- Assault as a crime against humanity in violation of Art. 9 (h) using Art. 42 (1) Military Command Responsibility.
Trial procedures:
5 June 2003: the prosecutors argued that the accused should be acquitted due to lack of evidence[5].
5 August 2003: The verdict was 3 years detention[6], but he remained free awaiting appeal.
In 2004 Damiri was acquitted. There is no further information yet on the appeal procedure.
International procedure:
24 February 2003: charged in absentia before the Dili (United Nations) Special Panel for Serious Crimes in relation to crimes against humanity.
Notes:
(Source: Human Rights Watch, 08-08-2004:) The appeals court in Jakarta today [08-08-2004] announced that it had overturned the convictions of four high-ranking Indonesian security officials and cut in half the 10-year sentence of Eurico Guterres, the former leader of the notorious Aitarak militia in East Timor.
"The decisions show that courts in Indonesia are simply not independent and are incapable of rendering justice for the atrocities committed in East Timor," said Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division. "Indonesia has given the international community no choice but to initiate a justice mechanism for these appalling crimes, which took place in full view of the world in 1999."
The four acquitted officials are Major General Adam Rachmat Damiri, who was commander of the military region that included East Timor and the highest-ranking officer to face trial; Colonel Nur Muis, who as commander of the Indonesian armed forces in East Timor was Damiri's direct subordinate in the Indonesian army's chain of command; former Police Chief Commissioner Hulman Gultom; and Lieutenant Colonel Soedjarwo. All had been found guilty by the ad hoc Human Rights Court in Jakarta for crimes against humanity, which Indonesia created in an attempt to shield itself from calls for an international tribunal.Damiri and Muis were also indicted in February 2003 on three counts of crimes against humanity - murder, persecution, and deportation - by the U.N. Serious Crimes Unit in a joint indictment with East Timorese authorities at the Dili District Court in East Timor. The Indonesian government has vowed not to extradite anyone to the U.N.-backed courts in Dili. The decision by the Indonesian appeals court ensures that there is currently no chance for senior Indonesian military officials to be held accountable for the crimes committed by Indonesian army and security forces in East Timor.[7]
In 2007 Adam Damiri testified before the Commission on Truth and Friendship and declared that the violence was the sole responsibility of UNAMET. (Tempo, 30 March 2007).
[1]http://ictj.org/sites/default/files/ICTJ-TimorLeste-Unfinished-Truth-2009-English.pdf[2] Quoted from the Report of the Commission on Truth and Friendship (2008)[3] http://www.cavr-timorleste.org/chegaFiles/1162273558-Chega!-Report-Executive-Summary.pdf[4] http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~warcrime/East_Timor_and_Indonesia/Indictments_and_judgments/Indonesia_Damiri_Indictment.htm[5] Derailed; Transitional Justice in Indonesia Since the Fall of Soeharto. A joint report by ICTJ and KontraS; March 2011.[6] Intended to Fail; The Trials Before the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court in Jakarta. By Professor David CohenDirector, UC Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center; Edited by the International Center for Transitional Justice, August 2003.[7] http://www.hrw.org/news/2004/08/07/indonesia-courts-sanction-impunity-east-timor-abuses
