18 Oct 2003

Indonesian military court sentences two soldiers for aiding armoury raid

9:40 am on 18 October 2003

An Indonesian court-martial has jailed two soldiers for aiding a raid on a military armoury by Papua separatist rebels

First Lieutenant Pilius Wenda was jailed for one year and two months and First Sergeant Sergius Jikwa for 10 months by the tribunal in the provincial capital Jayapura .

Judges said Pilius was intimidated into giving the rebels eight rounds of rifle ammunition which were apparently used in the raid of the armoury at Wamena in April this year.

Two soldiers and a rebel were killed in the raid, in which 29 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition were stolen.

Most weapons were recovered after raids by troops, who were accused by rights groups of torturing civilians and torching homes during their search.

One suspect died in police detention.