Veríssimo Dias Quintas

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Veríssimo Dias Quintas (born March 1, 1935 in Portuguese Timor , † August 27, 1999 in Lospalos , East Timor ) was an East Timorese nobleman. He was Liurai from Lospalos .

Career

As a child, Quintas experienced the occupation of his homeland by Japan (1942–1945).

At the time when the Portuguese were preparing their withdrawal from Timor , Quintas was initially a member of the left-wing FRETILIN , but later decided to become a member of the UDT to protect his family , where he quickly became a regional leader. His brother Filipe Dias Quintas was the first secretary of FRETILIN in the Lautém district and his brother Nicolão was also a member of FRETILIN. The UDT was subject to FRETILIN in trial votes in the district, which led to an attempted coup by the UDT. In the civil war that flared up briefly , the UDT was defeated. The influence of Quintas at FRETILIN saved the lives of several people from radical forces in their ranks. Shortly thereafter, Indonesia occupied East Timor.

Quintas joined the armed resistance of FALINTIL , which at that time still belonged to FRETILIN. He was still a member of it at the end of the 1970s, but later gave up the armed struggle due to quarrels about the right strategy after the death of FALINTIL commander Nicolau dos Reis Lobato in 1978. Even if Quintas came to terms with the Indonesians, he used his some immunity to side for East Timor’s independence. According to the family, Quintas formed the secret group Tongsus with family members and friends . Although it was set up, trained and armed by the Indonesian army , Quintas used it for operations against the occupying forces underground. The group was exposed, most of the 37 members, including Quinta's brother Nicolão, were killed and Quintas was imprisoned in Baucau for a year before he was allowed to return to Lospalos.

At the end of 1982, Quintas organized a meeting between Gatot Purwanto, the new commander of the Indonesian armed forces on site, with José da Conceição (Jony), the FRETILIN head of the Eastern Resistance Sector, and the local FALINTIL chief Lari Mau (Justo Bernadino). The aim was to end the fighting. Quintas was also involved in armistice talks in March 1983.

In the 1990s, Quintas became the local head of the CNRT umbrella organization . In 1999 he was replaced in this position by Victor da Costa. On 30 August of that year was led by the United Nations an independence referendum have been recognized for what Quintas publicly advertised. On August 2nd, the local CNRT office opened at the Quintas home.

Pro-Indonesian militias ( Wanra ) and Indonesian security forces used terror to intimidate the population. On August 27, Quintas and Costa were brutally murdered by a group of Indonesian soldiers and members of the Wanra Team Alfa . Quintas was hit by machetes several times and his house burned down. About 30 CNRT supporters sought protection here.

On August 29, Quintas was buried at his home. Twelve people were indicted by the public prosecutor's office in November 2002 before the Special Panels for Serious Crimes (SPSC) in the special chamber of the district court in Dili as perpetrators or instigators for the murder of Quintas. The trial ended in 2004 with an acquittal for the murder allegation.

Others

Quintas was married to Olinda Quintas. The von Quintas family later opened a restaurant behind his house, which they named "27 @ Restaurant" in his honor after the anniversary of his death.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Official government website of East Timor: History. Retrieved August 22, 2011 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Joseph Nevins: A Not-so-distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor , pp. 92, 93, 181 & 182, 2005, ISBN 9780801443060 .
  3. ^ E. Chamberlain, “The Struggle in Iliomar: Resistance in rural East Timor” , 2008 , accessed August 27, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b c Lautém District Development Plan 2002/2003 ( Memento of the original dated February 3, 2011 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. , P. 6. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.estatal.gov.tl
  5. ↑ a b Prosecution's complaint regarding the murder of Quintas , accessed on August 27, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Chapter 7.2 Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances" (PDF; 2.5 MB) from the "Chega!" Report of the CAVR (English)
  7. ^ Judgment of the court, February 23, 2004 , accessed on August 27, 2017.
  8. ^ Getty Images , accessed August 27, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Quintas, Veríssimo Dias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Quintas, Viríssimo Dias (alternative spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION East Timorese nobleman, Liurai of Lospalos and freedom fighter
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Portuguese Timor
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1999
Place of death Lospalos , East Timor