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Viewing cable 06JAKARTA11799, Central Sulawesi: "Poso 3" Executed - Violence

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06JAKARTA11799 2006-09-22 10:47 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Jakarta
VZCZCXRO7078
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJA #1799/01 2651047
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221047Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0430
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 9951
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1047
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI
ZEN/AMCONSUL SURABAYA
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 011799 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM AMCONSUL SURABAYA 1194 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS and DRL 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PINS PGOV PNAT KJUS CASC ID
SUBJECT: Central Sulawesi: "Poso 3" Executed - Violence 
Erupts In West Timor 
 
Ref: JAKARTA 4365 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus Da Silva, and 
Marinus Riwu were executed September 22.  Security 
situations in Palu, Poso and Tentena remained calm, inspired 
by a highly visible police and military presence patrolling 
the streets.  Violence erupted in areas of West Timor, Nusa 
Tenggara Province, where 3-5000 rioted in Attambua, 
destroying the local parliament building, the attorney 
general's office, a hotel, gas station and many other 
buildings and vehicles.  Police came at the mob using tear 
gas and rubber bullets causing injuries and possibly one 
death.  ConGen Surabaya is aware of one U.S. citizen in 
Attambua, who is safe.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Poso Violence Antagonists Executed 
---------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Convicted mass murderers Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus 
Da Silva, and Marinus Riwu were executed September 22 at 
1:40 A.M. local time after postponements in April and August 
2006 (reftel).  According to Tasrip Siara, a journalist for 
Alliance Independent, the execution took place at Soeharto 
Hill in Ngatabaru, a police training ground close to the 
Palu airport.  A few hours before, two trucks had left 
Palu's Petobo Prison; the first vehicle passed through the 
front gate as a diversion in case protestors planned to 
attack the vehicle carrying the condemned prisoners and 
traveled to the Palu Airport.  The majority of the press 
followed the diversionary vehicle.  The second truck carried 
Tibo, Da Silva and Riwu through the Petobo Prison back gate 
to the site of the execution.  The three prisoners were 
executed by firing squad.  Siara also stated that the bodies 
of Tibo and Riwu were flown at 5:00 A.M. from Palu to 
Soroako, South Sulawesi then driven to Beteleme, Morowali, 
Central Sulawesi for burial.  Da Silva's body was buried at 
Talisa Cemetery in Palu immediately after the execution. 
Provincial police and military are providing heavy security 
at the burial sites. 
 
Central Sulawesi Quiet Under Heavy Police Presence 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
3. (SBU) According to several ConGen Surabaya sources, the 
situations in Palu, Poso and Tentena were calm in the hours 
immediately following the executions.  Siara stated that the 
day before the executions, the situation in Palu was like 
war time with police and military personnel tightly guarding 
every corner of the city, frequently patrolling the streets 
with tanks.  Darlis Muhammad, a journalist for Tempo 
Newspaper, also believed the emotional state of local 
Catholics was highly charged.  He attended one of the masses 
held for the prisoners at the Santa Maria Catholic Church in 
Palu and heard angry statements from the crowd. Omnesimus 
Kambodji, head of the Inter-religious Communication Forum in 
Poso, told Congen staff that the situation in Tentena was 
tense the previous night, with a major police and military 
presence in the city, however no violent incidents occurred 
and life returned to normal in the morning following the 
execution.  Religious leader Rinaldy Damanik, head of 
Central Sulawesi Assembly of Churches, actively asked his 
members in Poso to stay calm.  A few Christian youths threw 
stones at the Tentena police station in the morning but 
there was no reaction from the police or the public.  Police 
personnel were withdrawn from Tentena to Poso late in the 
morning reflecting their belief the situation in Tentena was 
secure. 
 
West Timor Explodes - Executions Seen as Unfair 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
4. (SBU) The security situation in West Timor, East Nusa 
Tenggara Province (NTT), however, deteriorated quickly. 
Immediately following the executions, an angry mob of 
approximately 1,000 in Kefamenanu, West Timor forcibly 
closed the prosecutor's office and chased away the regency 
Attorney General from his home.  At approximately 9:00 A.M. 
local time in Attambua, West Timor, a mob of 3-5000 
destroyed the local parliament building, the Attambua 
prosecutor's office and burnt the prosecutor's official 
residence.  The crowd blocked roads by lighting tires and 
stacking debris and burned a hotel, gas station and other 
buildings.  There are several unconfirmed reports from 
 
JAKARTA 00011799  002 OF 002 
 
 
ConGen Surabaya contacts that local police confronted the 
mob and fired in to the crowd on two occasions, causing one 
death and several injuries.  Another news account states the 
police used tear gas and rubber bullets, hospitalizing 
several protesters.  According to Chrystal Holt, head of the 
local Save the Children agency, additional military and 
police forces were rushing to the area by helicopter. 
 
5. (SBU) Vincen Loe, the head of YASO Foundation in 
Attambua, said that the crowd also demanded that the 
prosecutor's office release all prisoners.  When the 
prisoners were not released, the mod destroyed the jail 
freeing 205 prisoners.  Loe was concerned East Timorese 
living in West Timor would take advantage of the chaotic 
situation and continue rioting.  Attambua residents were 
ordered to stay in their homes until the situation calmed. 
The Belu Regent, Deputy Regent, and the Bishop of Attambua 
patrolled the streets and asked people to gather at the 
local soccer field where the three community leaders then 
spoke to the crowd.  Apparently this was not effective as 
the mob continued by burning the central market in town. 
According to contacts, local residents were not angry about 
the executions per se, but felt justice was not done because 
the 16 other accomplices alleged by Tibo were not adequately 
investigated.  More importantly, there remains a strong 
local sense that the Poso 3, originally from NTT, were 
scapegoats, and had no chance to have a fair trial in 
Central Sualwesi.  ConGen Surabaya also received word that a 
mosque in Ruteng, Flores, NTT was burned to protest the 
executions. 
 
6. (SBU) The Central Sulawesi public prosecutor's office 
rejected several last requests of the condemned prisoners 
for security reasons.  Dominggus Da Silva had asked that his 
body be buried in Maumere, Flores, NTT.  The three convicts 
had requested that their executions be witnessed by Joseph 
Suwathan (Bishop of Manado, North Sulawesi), Father Jemmy 
Tumbelaka (of St. Theresa Church in Poso), Father Melky 
Toreh (of St. Maria Church in Palu) and Roy Rening (lawyer 
for the three prisoners).  The three also had asked that 
their bodies to be prayed over at Santa Maria Catholic 
Church in Palu prior to burial.  According to Siara, their 
attorneys were infuriated by the denials but the prisoners' 
families accepted the decision. 
 
7. (SBU) An American citizen named Jennifer Goette, working 
for Save the Children in Kupang, NTT, is currently in 
Attambua.  She is safely in her hotel, which was not 
attacked.  She will try to leave via airplane tomorrow back 
to Kupang.  Her husband is also in West Timor but is in a 
remote area, far from the violence.  ConGen Surabaya 
notified her parents of her safety via email, at her 
request.  There are no other known Americans in the area. 
 
HEFFERN