Maternus Bere and Alola

La’o Hamutuk

By Dr. Clinton Fernandes
Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of New South Wales @ ADFA

September 6, 2009

The involvement of Maternus Bere in the Suai Church Massacre has been widely discussed. Less widely discussed is that Bere is also criminally responsible for the abduction, rape and sexual slavery of one of the better known names in East Timor – Juliana Dos Santos, also known as “Alola”.

Maternus Bere was the commander (known as Danki) of one of five Laksaur militia sub-groups. His sub-group operated in Suai. Egidio Manek was the Danki of the Tilomar area sub-group. Both Bere and Manek – and the other Danki – had effective command and control of members in their subgroups.

Case number 09-2003 of the Special Panels for Serious Crimes documents how Egidio Manek, Maternus Bere and others in the Laksaur militia committed the Suai Church Massacre on 6^th September 1999. A brief summary from paras 228-237:

When members of the Laksaur militia arrived at the church, they surrounded the church compound along with the Indonesian military (TNI). They threw two grenades into the church compound and began firing. They entered the church compound and attacked the villagers who were hiding inside. During the attack, the TNI and members of the Laksaur Militia killed many civilians including women, children and three priests (Father Hilario Madeira, Father Francisco Soares and Father Tarsisius Dewanto). They killed between 27 and 200 civilians during the attack and injured many others. After the attack, Egidio Manek abducted Juliana Dos Santos aka Alola who was hiding at the Suai church at the material time and announced that Juliana would be his wife from that moment. Juliana was forcibly taken to West Timor.

Maternus Bere is also criminally responsible for the abduction, rape and sexual slavery of Alola.

The applicable law is contained in the statutes of all three international criminal tribunals (the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia or ICTY, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda or ICTR and the Special Court for Sierra Leone or SCSL). Paragraph 1 of the article common to all three statutes dealing with criminal participation refers to “[a] person who planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of a crime … shall be individually responsible for the crime.”

Egidio Manek is the person who directly committed the crime because his conduct falls within what the ICTY has described as “the direct personal or physical participation of the accused in the actual acts which constitute a crime”[1].

Maternus Bere is the person who participated in the crime by “aiding and abetting” Egidio Manek. Bere’s conduct meets a qualitative and quantitative threshold because it had a “direct and substantial effect on the commission of the offence”. His participation was substantial because “the criminal act most probably would not have occurred in the same way had not someone acted in the role that the accused had in fact assumed.”[2]

Maternus Bere is an aider and abettor because he made a substantial contribution to the crime, which was committed both by Manek and by a plurality of persons, namely the other members of the Laksaur militia and the Indonesian military. Bere’s assistance “does not need to constitute an indispensable element.”[3] It is not necessary for Egidio Manek to be charged or convicted for Maternus Bere’s liability to be established. It is well-established in law that prosecution of the principal offender may not have occurred. As the ICTR has noted, “all criminal systems provide that an accomplice may also be tried, even where the principal perpetrator of the crime has not been identified, or where, for any other reasons, guilt could not be proven.”[4]

Bere did not even need to be physically present when the underlying crime was committed by Manek. A “relevant act of assistance may be geographically and temporally unconnected to the actual commission of the offence.”[5]

Bere does not need to have shared Manek’s plan or purpose to abduct, rape and enslave Alola, nor does he need to have shared Manek’s criminal intent. According to the ICTY, “the principal may not even know about the accomplice’s contribution”. It is enough that Bere was aware that his action helped Manek in the commission of the crime, and intended to encourage such commission. All that is required for Intent to be shown is that Bere willingly did what he did.

For Awareness to be shown, it is not necessary that Bere be fully cognizant of the specificities of the crime that was committed by Manek, let alone of Manek’s criminal intent. Bere is simply required to be aware of the risk that Manek might abduct, rape and enslave Alola. According to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, “the mens rea required for aiding and abetting is that the accused knew that his acts would assist the commission of the crime by the perpetrator or that he was aware of the substantial likelihood that his acts would assist the commission of a crime by the perpetrator.”[6] According to the ICTY Trial Chamber, “it is not necessary that the aider and abettor should know the precise crime that was intended and which in the event was committed. If he is aware that one of a number of crimes will probably be committed, and one of those crimes is in fact committed, he has intended to facilitate the commission of that crime, and is as guilty as an aider and abettor.”[7]

Return to page on Suai Church Massacre and Martenus Bere

[1] Kordic et al (IT-95-14/2-T), Judgment, 26 February 2001, para 376.

[2] Tadic (IT-94-1-T), Opinion and Judgment, 7th May 1997, para 688.

[3] Kvocka et al (IT-98-30/1-A), Judgment, 28 February 2005, para 90.

[4] Akayesu (ICTR-96-4-T), Judgment, 2nd September 1998, para 530.

[5] Rutaganda (ICTR-96-3-T), Judgment and Sentence, 6th December 1999, para 43.

[6] Brima et al, SCSL Trial Chamber, para 776.

[7] Furyndzija, ICTY Trial Chamber, para 247.

Maternus Bere no Alola

Husi Dr. Clinton Fernandes
Dosente Senior, Eskola Siensia Umanidade no Sosial
Universidade New South Wales @ ADFA

6 Setembru 2009

Involvimentu Maternus Bere iha Masakre Igreja Suai sai ona materia diskusaun ne'ebe ema hotu. Laduun iha diskusaun maka Bere ne'e mos kriminalmente responsabiliza ba naok ema, violensia no haatan seksual ba ema naran koinesidu iha Timor-Leste – Juliana Dos Santos, mos koinesidu liu hanesan “Alola”.

Maternus Bere maka komandaten (koinese hanesan Danki) ba seksaun grupu milisia Laksaur husi grupu lima seluk. Ninia grupu opera iha Suai. Egidio Manek maka Danki ba sub-grupu area Tilomar. Sira nain rua Bere no Manek – no Danki sira seluk – iha komando efetiva no kontrolu membru sira iha sub-grupu.

Kazu numeru 09-2003 husi dokumentu Painel Spesial ba Krimes Graves oinsa Egidio Manek, Maternus Bere no sira seluk iha milisia Laksaur halo Masakre Igreja Suai iha loron 6Setembru 1999. Sumariu badak husi pajina 228-237:

Kuandu membru milisia Laksaur too iha igreja, sira hadulas tiha fatin igreja ho militar Indonezia nian (TNI). Sira soe granada rua ba komplexu igreja no hahu tiru. Sira tama ba komplexu igreja no ataka povu sira ne'ebe subar iha ne'eba. Durante iha ataka ne'e, TNI no membru Milisia Laksaur oho ema sivil barak inkluindu feto, labarik no amo-lulik nain tolu (Amo Hilario Madeira, Amo Francisco Soares no Amo Tarsisius Dewanto). Sira oho ema sivil entre nain 27 no 200 durante ataka ne'e no hakenek sira barak seluk. Hafoin ataka ne'e liu tiha, Egidio Manek lori halai tiha Juliana Dos Santos ka Alola ne'ebe subar hela iha igreja Suai no iha tempu ne'eba fo sai kedas katak Juliana sai nia fen hahu momentu ne'eba. Juliana obriga deit lori ba Timor Osidental.

Maternus Bere mos kriminalmente responsavel ba lorihalai, violasaun no haatan seksual ba Alola ne'e.

Lei aplikavel iha estatutu tribunal kriminal internasion tolu (Tribunal Kriminal Internasional ba Eis Yugoslavia ka ICTY, Tribunal Kriminal Internasional ba Rwanda ka ICTR no Tribunal Spesial ba Sierra Leone ka SCSL). Paragrafu 1 husi artigu komun ba estatutu tolu ne'e hotu ne'e haree kona-ba partisipasaun kriminal refere ba “[a] ema ne'ebe planu, instigadu no fo komandu, halo ka fo ajuda no konspira iha planu, preparasaun ka eksekusaun krime ida … individualmente responsavel ba krime ne'e.”

Egidio Manek maka ema ne'ebe direitamente halo krime basa nia hahalok monu ba iha saida maka deskreve iha ICTY hanesan “pesoa direta ka partisipasaun fiziku ne'ebe akuza iha aktu atual ne'ebe konstituta krime ida”[1].

Maternus Bere hanesan ema ne'ebe partisipa iha krime liu husi “fo asistensia no konspirasaun” ba Egidio Manek. Bere nia hahalok hasoru kualitativa no kuantitativa limiar ida basa iha ona “efektu direta no substansial ba komisaun ofensa” ida. Ninia partisipasaun substansial tamba “aktu kriminal barak dala ruma la bele akontese iha dalan hanesan ema ruma halo papel ne'ebe akuzadu asume ona.”[2]

Maternus Bere hanesan ema ne'ebe fo asistensia no konspirador tamba nia halo ona kontribuisaun substansial ida ba krime, ne'ebe halo ona husi Manek no ema sira seluk tan, temin deit membru milisia Laksaur sira seluk no Indonezia nia militar. Bere nia asistensia “la presiza konstitui elementu indispensavel ida.”[3] Iha ne'e la nesesariu ba Egidio Manek atu hetan kastigu Maternus Bere nia liabilidade hodi estabelesidu. Iha estabelese-didiak ona iha lei katak prosekusaun ba kriminozu bele la akontese. Hanesan hateten ona iha ICTR, “sistema kriminal hotu fo katak antek ida bele mos hetan julgamentu, maske iha kriminozu prinsipal krime ne'e nia seidauk identifika, ka iha ne'ebe, ba razaun ruma seluk, sala la bele prova.”[4]

Bere la presiza atu iha ne'eba fizikalmente wainhira krime ne'ebe temin halo husi Manek. “aktu relevante husi asistensia bele geografikamente no temporariamente la iha koneksaun ba komisaun atual krime ida”[5]

Bere la presiza atu hatene Manek nia planu ka objetivu ba naok ema, violensia no haatan Alola, mos la presiza atu hatene Manek nia intensaun kriminal. Bazeia ba ICTY, “prinsipalmente bele la hatene kona-ba antek ida nia kontribuisaun”. Iha natoo katak Bere hatene katak ninia asaun ajuda Manek iha komisaun krime, no intende atu fo korajen ba komisaun hanesan ne'e. Buat sira ne'e hotu rekere hatudu katak Bere hakarak dunik halo saida maka nia halo ona.

Atu konsientemente hatudu, ida ne'e nesesariu katak Bere konsente tomak espesifika krime sira be halo husi Manek, husi ba Manek nia intende criminal. Bere simplesmente presiza atu hatene risku katak Manek bele naok, viola no haatan Alola. Bazeia ba Tribunal Spesial ba Sierra Leone, “mens rea presiza ba asistensia no kospirasaun hanesan ne'e akuzadu hatene ona katak ninia hahalok bele asiste komisaun krime husi kriminozu ka nia hatene substansia ne'ebe ninia hahalok bele fo tulun ba komisaun krime ida husi kriminozu.”[6] Bazeia ba Julgamentu Chamber ICTY, “iha ne'e la nesesariu katak ema ne'ebe fo tulun no konspirador tenke hatene detailu krime hotu ne'ebe maka intende ona no iha eventu ne'ebe maka halo ona . Karik nia hatene katak krime ida husi krime sira seluk sei dala ruma komitidu, no krime ida husi krime sira be halo tiha ona, nia iha intensaun atu fasilita komisaun halo krime, no ne'e sala hanesan ema ida ne'ebe fo asistensia no konspirador.”[7]

Fila ba pajina kona-ba Masakre Igreja Suai no Martenus Bere