Accused Timor militia leader 'ready to die'

Guterres headed one of the most notorious of the pro-Indonesian militias

JAKARTA, East Timor -- A notorious former militia leader accused of carrying out atrocities in East Timor says he is ready to face a death sentence, if found guilty.

Eurico Guterres rejected the charges against him in Indonesia's newly established human rights court on Thursday.

Appearing at court wearing army camouflage fatigues and a scarf in the red and white of the Indonesian flag, he said what action he took was taken to defend Indonesia.

"For the sake of justice I am ready to die because I was there to defend the red and white, not my wife or children. I defended the republic of Indonesia," he told reporters before the trial opened.

"If the court can prove that I'm guilty, I am ready to be sentenced," he said.

Prosecutors say Guterres failed to control deadly attacks by his Aitarak militia group at a pro-independence rally in April 1999, in which up to 12 people died.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Gordon Robison reports prosecutors in Jakarta's human rights court say Eurico Guterres was at the center the violence in East Timor in 1999 (June 27) Play video   IN-DEPTH East Timor: Birth of a Nation    RESOURCES Photo gallery: Voices of Timor    EAST TIMOR • Timeline: Road to nationhood  • Country profile

Pro-Jakarta militia groups waged a campaign of terror and intimidation before East Timor's historic referendum on independence in August of that year.

That turned into a campaign of revenge as militiamen went on the rampage after the territory voted overwhelmingly to cut ties with Indonesia after 24-years of often brutal rule.

'Habibie to blame'

Speaking outside the court, Guterres said the main responsibility for the violence lay with former Indonesian President BJ Habibie, who had allowed the United Nations-sponsored referendum to go ahead.

"Mr Habibie must be held responsible ... if Habibie did not give such an option, then such things would not have happened," Guterres said.

The former militia leader faces one count of attack and murder, which carries the death penalty, and one count of attack and torture, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment.

The human rights court in Jakarta is hearing a batch of cases related to the violence in East Timor.

According to United Nations estimates, more than 1,000 East Timorese were killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes by the violence that surrounded the 1999 vote.

East Timor was declared a fully independent nation on May 20 this year when U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan formally handed power to a government led by former guerilla leader, Xanana Gusmao.