Reuters AlertNet Lite - Indonesia Christians face up to 20 yrs for killings

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Indonesia Christians face up to 20 yrs for killings

21 Jun 2007 11:43:42 GMT
Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, June 21 (Reuters) - Indonesian prosecutors asked on Thursday for between 15- to 20-year sentences for 17 Christians charged under anti-terror laws for the murder of two Muslims by a mob angry at the execution of Christian militants last year.

The 17 were part of a gang that allegedly killed a Muslim fishmonger and his assistant in the Poso region of Sulawesi island, a Christian pocket of predominantly Muslim Indonesia.

Thousands protested last September's executions, arguing the punishment against the three militants convicted of leading a mob that killed hundreds of Muslims in a boarding school in 2000 was unjust.

Prosecutor Totok Bambang said 12 Christians "beat the victims with bare hands as well as timber sticks, vandalised their car and shoved it into a sewer which led to their death".

Bambang said the other five were involved in the disposal of the bodies.

Defence lawyer Elvis Katuwu told reporters his clients should not have been charged under anti-terror laws.

"None of the evidence pointed to terrorism... They should have been charged under the criminal code," Katuwu told reporters.

Poso regency, a large but sparsely populated rugged area in the middle of Sulawesi island, has been racked with Muslim-Christian tension since 1998.

More than 2,000 people were killed during the peak of the violence from late 1998 until a peace accord between Muslim and Christian communities took effect in late 2001.

There has been sporadic violence since and prosecutions against those involved have been scarce.

Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow Islam, but in some areas in the country's east like Poso there are roughly equal numbers of Muslims and Christians. (Writing by Adhityani Arga, editing by Sugita Katyal; Reuters Messaging: sugita.katyal@reuters.net; +6221 384-6364))

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Last updated:Thu Jun 21 11:46:42 2007