Court issues warrant for WirantoBy Matthew Moore, Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
May 11, 2004
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A United Nations-funded court in East Timor has issued an arrest warrant for the Indonesian presidential candidate Wiranto, beginning a process that could see the former military commander arrested if he leaves the country.
An American judge at the Special Panel for Serious Crimes in East Timor issued the warrant against Wiranto, a former general, yesterday. The warrant comes nearly 16 months after UN prosecutors handed the court 15,000 pages of evidence as part of an indictment against Wiranto and seven other officers for crimes against humanity committed around the time of East Timor's 1999 vote for independence.
Although Wiranto is unlikely to be immediately arrested, the decision of the Dili court yesterday to accept the evidence of prosecutors and order his arrest and trial is a serious blow to his election campaign.
Wiranto was in Surabaya in East Java yesterday, briefing officials from his Golkar party on campaign strategy for the July 5 poll.
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