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Journalists 'executed' in E Timor Journalists 'murdered' in E Timor
(about 3 hours later)
A coroner in Sydney has ruled that five Australian-based journalists, known as the Balibo Five, were deliberately killed in East Timor in 1975. Five Australian-based journalists were deliberately killed by Indonesian troops in East Timor in 1975, an Australian coroner's court has ruled.
The deputy coroner of New South Wales, Dorelle Pinch, said there was enough evidence to constitute a war crime. Dorelle Pinch, deputy coroner of New South Wales, said the killings could constitute a war crime.
She said two Australians, two Britons and a New Zealander were killed by Indonesian special forces to stop them exposing the invasion of East Timor. The two Australians, two Britons and a New Zealander, known as the Balibo Five, were killed to stop them exposing the invasion of East Timor, she said.
Official Indonesian reports always said they were killed in crossfire. The Indonesian government insists the group were killed in a crossfire.
For more than three decades, the families of the Balibo Five have sought to correct the historical record and to prove that the newsmen were executed rather than accidentally killed in the heat of battle. The Sydney court concluded that Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, and New Zealander Gary Cunningham were deliberately shot or stabbed.
Now, they have finally been vindicated. "The journalists were not incidental casualties in the fighting - they were captured then deliberately killed despite protesting their status," Ms Pinch said.
The court found that Britons Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie, Australians Greg Shackleton and Tony Stewart, and New Zealander Gary Cunningham were deliberately shot or stabbed. 'Cold blood'
Prosecution mooted She named three former senior officers from the Indonesian special forces as having ordered the killings, and suggested they could be charged with war crimes under Australian law.
Ms Pinch found that members of the Indonesian special forces were acting on orders of their commanding officer to prevent the journalists revealing their participation in the attack on Balibo in East Timor. Australia's attorney general pledged to forward her recommendations to police and prosecutors.
She said that war crimes as defined by Australian law may have been committed, law and pledged to refer the case to the country's attorney-general, who has the jurisdiction to mount a prosecution. The families of the men, who have spent 30 years trying to prove that the reporters were murdered, welcomed the finding.
But on the question of whether the Australian authorities were forewarned that the journalists were about to be killed, she said all the evidence was to the contrary. Mr Peters' sister, Maureen Tolfree, told reporters outside the court: "They were murdered in cold blood. Justice has been done. We got what we wanted."
In Jakarta, a spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry said that the coroner's findings would not change its official account of the killings. But Indonesia's foreign ministry said the coroner's ruling would not change their opinion that the men were killed in a crossfire.
"Whatever decision or recommendations that they have made, that will not change our assertion about what happened in Balibo," a spokesman said.
"So this will not change also our position that it is a closed case."
On the question of whether the Australian authorities were forewarned that the journalists were about to be killed, the coroner said all the evidence was to the contrary.
After the invasion, Indonesia ruled East Timor until 1999, when its people voted overwhelmingly for independence.