745 Infantry Battalion (Indonesia)

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745 Infantry
Battalion Yonif 745

active 1976 to March 30, 2000
Country Indonesia
Armed forces Armed Forces of Indonesia
Armed forces army
Type Infantry battalion
Strength 600
headquarters " Trisula " in Assalaino, ( Suco Fuiloro , subdistrict Lospalos , District loud )
headquarters Sepelata ( Bauro , Lautém District); Olobai ( Viqueque District )
Former locations Uma Metan and Lebos ( Alas sub-district )
Origin of the soldiers East Timor, Indonesian West Timor, and other parts of Indonesia
Nickname Yonif 745
Butcher Operation Seroja , Operation Kikis , Operation Donner

The 745 Infantry Battalion ( Indonesian Yonif 745 ) was an Indonesian unit of the Indonesian Army . The battalion was set up on January 24, 1978 in the then annexed East Timor (then Timor Timur as an Indonesian province ). During the war in East Timor, and especially during the withdrawal following the end of Indonesian rule, members of the battalion committed numerous war crimes and human rights violations.

history

War in East Timor

The 745 Infantry Battalion was set up as the first Indonesian-East Timorese unit in Assalaino ( Lautém district ) in 1976 .

Like the 744 Infantry Battalion, founded in 1978, the 745 Battalion was an Indonesian unit that recruited native East Timoreseers from among Indonesian officers. In 1975 Indonesia invaded East Timor and declared it annexed in 1976, which was not recognized internationally. Above all, the East Timorese party FRETILIN and its military arm, the FALINTIL , put up armed resistance, which was answered with severe reprisals against the civilian population. But even though battalions 744 and 745 were the units with most of the East Timorese in the Indonesian army and were the only ones permanently stationed in East Timor, the local forces remained in the minority. A maximum of 25% of the soldiers were East Timorese. Of the 600 members of Battalion 745, only 150 came from the occupied area and, especially at the beginning, not from the region around Lospalos either. The region had only just been occupied, so there was no local support for the invaders. Even later, the East Timorese soldiers in the Indonesian army were not very reliable in their loyalty.

Three companies of Battalion 745 (A, C and D) were stationed in Assalaino / Fuiloro. 120 soldiers and their families lived at the base on the road north of Lospalos ( 8 ° 30 ′ 24 ″ S, 126 ° 59 ′ 10 ″ E ). Two other companies were stationed nearby. Another base was in Sepelata ( Bauro , Lautém district). Parts of the battalion were temporarily relocated to Uma Metan and Lebos ( Alas sub-district) and Olobai (Viqueque district) in order to fight against the East Timorese resistance.

The 745 Infantry Battalion is charged with numerous war crimes. In addition to those mentioned here, there were also numerous cases in which civilians and prisoners were executed.

In 1978 in Aculau ( Ermera district ), 88 people died in an attack on the village of Aisapu by infantry battalions 744 and 745, according to the families. When the FALINTIL resistance base on Matebian fell at the end of the year, all Indonesian units involved were accused of having been involved in the murder or disappearance of civilians and fighters, including Battalion 745. For example, soldiers from the battalion carried out mass executions, which should have been in connection with the FALINTIL or FRETILIN. The executions took place from early to mid-1979 in Baucau , Viqueque , Lautém and Manatuto . Among the victims is João Branco , member of the central committee of FRETILIN.

Domingos da Costa Ribeiro , FRETILIN member and deputy minister in the East Timorese government it established , was captured by the Indonesians in 1977. He was sent to the Comarca prison in Dili. On the night of the 18th, he and ten other prisoners were taken to Areia Branca beach and executed by members of the 745 Battalion. The FALINTIL commander Afonso de Carvalho disappeared in 1979 after surrendering and being brought to Baucau for questioning by members of Battalion 745.

In September 1981, soldiers from Battalion 745, along with other units, attacked Kiki's FALINTIL fighters on Mount Aitana at the end of Operation Kiki's . The Indonesians executed more than a hundred people, both combatants and civilians, including women and children. The battalion's commander at the time was Iswanto.

During the Cabalaki uprising , on August 20, 1982, FALINTIL fighters attacked several Indonesian bases in the region around Mount Cabalaki ( Suco Holarua , Manufahi municipality ). In the days that followed, additional Indonesian troops were deployed to the region, including units from Battalions 745 and 746. From August 20 to 24, the Indonesian soldiers and Hansip destroyed fields and burned houses. There were arrests and forced deportations. By January 1986, 464 Sucos Mauchiga residents had been deported from their homeland, around 20.4% of the total population. Almost half of them were women, 38.8% children. The death of 117 people from Suco Mauchiga between 1982 and 1983 is documented in connection with these abductions, as well as numerous rapes during this time.

In 1982, a soldier from Battalion 745 refused to order a group of civilians, including women and children, to be executed in Rotuto (Manufahi municipality), thus preventing a massacre.

In Nahareca ( Ossu administrative office ) there was an exchange of fire between FALINTIL fighters and soldiers of Battalion 745 on August 10, 1983. An East Timorese was wounded and later executed by the Indonesians. It was one of the incidents that led to the September-October 1983 retaliation known as the Kraras Massacre . Battalion 745 was also involved in the executions of more than 200 civilians (mostly men who had fled their villages and hid in the area around Kraras ). Among other things, the mass murder in Tahu Bein . Numerous people were held and tortured at the Olobai base.

In 1986 the 745 battalion was deployed in Iliomar after 34 Indonesian pioneers were killed in an ambush at the Ossohira spring on November 21 . Organized resistance in the region was crushed by 1989.

Crime on the trigger

Memorial to the residents of Lospalos who were murdered by the Indonesian army in 1999
Inscription on the memorial: "For those murdered by the Indonesian soldiers of Battalion 745 on 9.9.1999 in Lospalos"
Part of the memorial

In 1999 Major Jacob Djoko Sarosa took over from Major Kemal S as battalion commander. In the run-up to the referendum on August 30, 1999 , in which the East Timorese voted for independence, Major Sarosa told his soldiers from East Timor that they should say in their home villages that anyone who would vote for independence would be killed would. The army would "destroy everything". Four days after the result of the referendum was announced on September 4, soldiers of Battalion 745 began Operation Donner and hunted down supporters of independence. A total of 13 murders are documented. They also worked closely with the Alfa militia team , which is held responsible for the murder of nine people near Lautém ( Lospalos case ). In the days from September 8 to 10, the soldiers of the battalion killed Antonio da Costa, Ambrosio Bernadino Alves, Julio de Jesus, Florencio Monteiro and Florentino Monteiro. Aleixo Oliveira was killed by a soldier at the base on September 11th. In Fuiloro, Martinho Branco, Marcelio Jeronimo, Julião de Azis and Helder de Azis were captured and probably killed around September 13th.

The battalion was also involved in the forced deportation of the population. The people were gathered at the base before they were brought to Baucau Airport , where they had to wait for an air transport to Kupang in the Indonesian part of West Timor . The battalion itself began retreating towards West Timor on September 17, 1999. The village of Lautém served as a base until September 20, when they set off westward by land. In a convoy of sixty trucks and cars and forty motorcycles in the lead, 120 soldiers withdrew with their families. Lieutenant Camilo dos Santos , who was responsible for the local East Timorese soldiers and platoon leader in Company D at the time, drove with the motorcycles. Before the departure, in the presence of Major Sarosa and Lieutenant Santos, the prisoners João Gomes and Agusto Venancio Soares were tortured to death on the beach at Parlamento . Their bodies were cremated along with that of Amilcar Barros, a third victim, behind the Dolog rice warehouse in Lautém.

Major Sarosa radioed one of the trucks to order houses along the way to be burned down. repeatedly shots were fired from inside the convoy. The first night was spent in Laga , where the soldiers kept chanting "burn, burn". On the morning of September 21st, they burned down several buildings. Again and again, people you met on the street were attacked. Egas da Costa and his younger brother Abreu, two young farmers from the area, were killed on the street near Boi-Le in Suco Bahu . Lucinda da Silva and Elisita da Silva were shot while driving through Buruma and Victor Belo and Carlos da Costa Ribeiro in Caibada . In the morning the convoy stopped at a bridge east of Laleia and Major Sarosa ordered the area to be heavily shelled with mortars and rifles. Four people died and three others were captured and never seen again.

When the eastern outskirts of East Timor's capital Dili were reached, the first troops of the International Armed Forces East Timor (INTERFET) dispatched by the United Nations had landed at Dili airport to restore order and quiet in the city. Journalists who traveled with them explored the city. Three of them met the 745 battalion. The taxi in which the Briton Jon Swain and his American cameraman were sitting was forcibly stopped. Sarosa and Santos are said to have been personally involved in the attack. The foreigners managed to escape unharmed, but their East Timorese driver, Sancho Ramos de Ressurição, lost an eye from a blow with a rifle butt and the interpreter Anacleto da Silva disappeared. On the Avenida Becora soldiers of the battalion shot at three men on the roadside. Manuel Andreas was killed and one of his companions injured.

An hour later, the Dutch reporter Sander Thoenes met the Indonesian soldiers. He was riding a motorcycle through Becora in southeast Dili with his East Timorese driver Florindo Araújo when they came to a roadblock. When Araújo turned, two Indonesian soldiers of Battalion 745 opened fire. Araújo and Thoenes fell. Araújo managed to escape on foot, but Thoenes was hit but is believed to be still alive. The dead reporter's ears were cut off and parts of the skin on his face peeled off. His body was later found by UN soldiers , dumped in a back garden of a house . One of the two soldiers could later be identified as Lieutenant Camilo dos Santos. The second is believed to be Major Jakob Djoko Sarosa. Thoenes was probably the last victim of the 745 battalion withdrawal. Excluding the victims of the Lospalos hunt, at least 18 people were murdered or disappeared without a trace during the 745 battalion withdrawal.

Destruction in Dili 1999

Major Sarosa later reported to his superior Colonel Nur Muis at the headquarters of the military district in central Dili. Muis feared trouble as Swain had escaped the attack. Sarosa later reported in an interview that the colonel had him detained for a week because the major had failed to maintain discipline during the incident. This disciplinary action was never officially registered. Muis only ordered the battalion to drive on to Kupang as quickly as possible and instructed the soldiers not to tell even their wives what they had been doing in Dili. When the convoy of Battalion 745 left Dili, Major Sarosa ordered his soldiers not to shoot any more, as INTERFET was now on site. The convoy reached Kupang on September 22nd.

Sarosa appeared before the Indonesian Attorney General's Injury Investigation Team in East Timor on May 4, 2000, where he stated that Colonel Muis had instructed him to mobilize his troops after the August 30 referendum. He also confessed through his lawyer that he ordered his men to intimidate the press by damaging their cars and cameras. Despite this, Sarosa was not charged in Indonesia. He was even promoted to lieutenant colonel. It was seen as a provocation that Lieutenant Santos was part of an Indonesian military delegation that visited East Timor in May 2002, shortly before the end of the UN administration .

Major Jacob Djoko Sarosa and Lieutenant Camilo dos Santos were indicted on November 6, 2002 by the Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) before the International Special Panels for Serious Crimes (SPSC) in Dili for crimes against humanity. Both of them could only be tried in absentia because they were at large in Indonesia and the country refused to cooperate with the prosecution.

Unlike the 744 battalion, the 745 infantry battalion was disbanded on March 30, 2000 together with the military district (Korem) 164 / Wiradharma after the end of the occupation of East Timor.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lautém District Development Plan 2002/2003, p. 6 (English; PDF file; 1.97 MB)
  2. ↑ Avet Tewelde Weldemichael: Third World Colonialism and Strategies of Liberation: Eritrea and East Timor Compared. Cambridge University Press, 2013, limited preview in Google Book search.
  3. ↑ a b Joseph Nevins: A Not-so-distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor. Cornell University Press, 2005, limited preview in Google Book Search.
  4. ↑ a b c The Australian: Final Parade for Dili Killers; Era of Indonesian Army Infamy has Ended , March 31, 2000 , accessed April 28, 2019.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Masters of Terror: Maj (Inf) Jacob Djoko Sarosa, Commander, Battalion 745 (Lospalos) , accessed on April 28, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b “Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances” - “He's gone to school ...” , p. 67 (PDF; 2.5 MB), from the “Chega!” Report of the CAVR (English).
  7. ↑ a b "Chapter 7.3 Forced Displacement and Famine" (PDF; 1.3 MB) from the "Chega!" Report of the CAVR (English)
  8. ↑ a b CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Indonesian retaliation in the vicinity of Kraras , p. 169.
  9. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Civilians killed while carrying out daily activities , p. 63.
  10. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Killings in Lospalos, 1979 by sub-district and group , pp. 86-98.
  11. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Manufahi district , pp. 105, 111.
  12. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Killings in Manatuto District, February-April 1979 , pp. 120 ff.
  13. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - September 1981: Executions at Aitana during the Fence of Legs Operation , p. 163.
  14. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Other Unlawful killings and enforced disappearances in the eastern region: 1983-1984 , p. 180.
  15. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Unlawful killings and enforced disappearances in Eastern Region (1985-1989) , pp. 197 & 198.
  16. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Executions and disappearances in Alas, Manufahi (November 1998) , p. 232.
  17. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Civilians killed during ABRI attacks , p. 64.
  18. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Targeted killings of suspected Fretilin / Falintil members and leaders after surrender or capture , p. 73.
  19. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Baucau District , p. 82.
  20. ↑ Statement of Amnesty International's Concerns in East Timor , August 1983 ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , from a letter from the Prime Minister of Vanuatu to the United Nations Security Council, November 30, 1983, Document S / 16215, December 14, 1983, retrieved May 11, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / repository.un.org
  21. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Laga , p. 85.
  22. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Indonesian security forces and its auxiliaries , p. 304.
  23. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Witnesses to the mass killing around Mount Aitana, September 1981 , p. 162.
  24. ↑ "Chapter 6: The Profile of Human Rights Violations in Timor-Leste, 1974 to 1999" (PDF; 456 kB) from the final report of the Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of East Timor (English)
  25. ↑ Chapter 7.7: Sexual Violence (PDF; 1.2 MB) from the final report of the Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of East Timor (English)
  26. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - August-December 1982: Unlawful killings and Enforced disappearances after Falintilattacks in the area of ​​Mount Kablaki , p. 164.
  27. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Indonesian security forces and its auxiliaries , p. 312.
  28. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Uprisings in Viqueque , p. 169.
  29. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Indonesian security forces and its auxiliaries , p. 306.
  30. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Massacre at Tahu Bein , p. 171.
  31. ^ Ernest Chamberlain: The Struggle in Iliomar: Resistance in rural East Timor Iliomar Sub-District , pp. 119 ff., 2017 , accessed on November 6, 2018.
  32. ^ A b CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Other post-ballot killings and disappearances reported to the Commission , p. 290.
  33. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Killings and disappearances during the withdrawal of Battalion 745 , p. 273 ff.
  34. ↑ a b c Cameron W. Barr: Battalion 745: A brutal exit , March 13, 2000 , accessed November 27, 2016.
  35. ↑ CAVR: "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" - Other post-ballot killings and disappearences reported to the Commission , p. 285.
  36. ↑ a b c BBC News: UK Journalist killed in East Timor , September 22, 1999 , accessed November 27, 2016.
  37. ↑ Masters of Terror: Lt (Inf) Camilo dos Santos , accessed on November 27, 2016.
  38. ↑ Al Jazeera: Trail of murder , accessed December 29, 2016.
  39. ↑ Boris Kester: Sander Thoenes Memorial site - What happened , accessed on November 27, 2016.
  40. ↑ The Telegraph: Fury as Indonesian 'army killer' returns to E Timor , May 12, 2002 , accessed April 29, 2019.