Suai Church massacre
{{More footnotes needed|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Suai Church massacre
| image = Gedenksteine Suai-Massaker.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Memorial in Suai dedicated to the victims of the massacre.
| map =
| map_caption =
| location = Suai, Cova Lima District, East Timor
| target = East Timorese Catholics
| coordinates = {{coord|9.3125|S|125.2556|E|source:wikidata|display=inline, title}}
| date = 6 September 1999
| time =
| timezone = UTC+9
| type = Massacre
| fatalities = <345
| injuries = 129
| perps = Indonesian civil and military officials
| motive = Anti-Christian sentiment
| weapons =
| numparts =
}}
The Suai Church massacre occurred on 6 September 1999, in Suai, Cova Lima District in southwestern East Timor, two days after the results of the independence referendum were announced.
Massacre
According to the International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor's report to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, several hundred persons had sought refuge in the Ave Maria church from attacks of the pro-Indonesia Laksaur militia in the city. Then the militia, with the support of the military of Indonesia, killed up to 345 people. Twenty-six bodies were identified that had been buried across the border in West Timor, but eyewitnesses claim many more were killed.
Five Indonesian officials—Lieutenant Colonel Liliek Kusardiyanto, Captain Ahmad Syamsudin, Lieutenant Sugito, police Colonel Gatot Subiaktoro, and District Head Herman Sedyono—were tried in Indonesia for these crimes but were acquitted. The UN named them and eleven other men in an indictment filed by the UN Serious Crimes Unit in Dili, accusing them of 27 counts of crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, enforced disappearance, torture, and deportation.
See also
External links
- [http://www.etan.org/news/2001a/09suai.htm ETAN (East Timor and Indonesia Action Network) page, including excerpts from the UN report and eyewitness accounts]
- [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/03/22/indone8148.htm Human Rights Watch page discussing acquittal of the five implicated Indonesian officials]
- [http://www.suaimediaspace.org/history-of-friendship/suai-church-massacre/ Suai Church Massacre drawing by Suai youth & Photograph of Church]
- [http://www.suaimediaspace.org/category/art/ Drawings of Massacre by Suai Youth 2000]
- [http://www.suaimediaspace.org/history-of-friendship/suai-church-massacre/ Short Documentary about Suai Church Massacre]
{{1999 East Timorese crisis}}
Category:Indonesian occupation of East Timor
Category:Massacres committed by Indonesia
Category:Church massacres in Asia
Category:September 1999 in Asia
Category:Massacres in Timor-Leste
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{{SEAsia-hist-stub}}
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Category:Massacres of Catholics
Category:20th-century mass murder in East Timor
Category:Attacks on churches in Timor-Leste
Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1999
Category:Persecution of Christians by Muslims
Category:Incidents of anti-Catholic violence