http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/balibo-inquiry-points-to-wilful-killing/2007/11/16/1194766901683.html
'Wilful killing' the verdict in Balibo inquiry Hamish McDonald November 16, 2007 - 6:01AM The five who perished... (Clockwise from top left) Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart, Greg Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters. Latest related coverage a.. Slideshow: About the Balibo Five The state coroner in the "Balibo Five" case is likely to throw a time-bomb into relations with Jakarta today by referring a former Indonesian general and another soldier to federal authorities for prosecution for war crimes. Although they will probably not be named, retired Lieutenant-General Mohammed Yunus Yosfiah and former special forces soldier Christoforus da Silva are the expected candidates for possible charges of wilful killing of civilians. Whichever leader wins the election is unlikely to relish the prospect of having to ask Indonesia to either extradite the two to face trial in Australia, or as obliged under the Geneva Conventions, conduct trials in its own jurisdiction. Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch will give her finding today in her Glebe court on the death of Brian Peters, the Channel Nine cameraman who was one of the five Australian-based newsmen killed during the Indonesian attack on Balibo village, in then Portuguese Timor, on October 16, 1975. In his closing submission on May 29 after hearings over four months, counsel assisting the court Mark Tedeschi QC argued the evidence pointed to two persons against whom there was a reasonable prospect of a guilty conviction, on wilful killing charges bringing a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. "We submit that this is a case which cries out for referral to the Commonwealth DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions]," he said. The findings are likely to dismiss the findings of Canberra's two previous inquiries, by former government lawyer Tom Sherman, that the newsmen had been killed in cross-fire between the Indonesians and soldiers of the pro-independence Fretilin movement. Mr Tedeschi said the evidence pointed to Peters -- along with Nine colleague Malcolm Rennie, and Channel Seven's Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham and Tony Stewart --them being "deliberately killed" in or around the so-called "Chinese House" facing Balibo's square after surrendering. The then Captain Yosfiah ordered his soldiers to shoot and joined in the firing himself. One journalist was knifed to death by da Silva after trying to hide at the back of the house. Such a finding will be a long-delayed vindication for the bereaved families of the Balibo Five, who argued through John Stratton SC, appearing for Maureen Tolfree, the sister of Brian Peters, that the official account of Balibo had been a "false history" that needed correction. But the inquest is unlikely to quell suspicions it has been channelled in a way that protects Australian leaders and officials from allegations of negligence and cover-up. Before the hearings, Coroner Pinch ruled the inquest would not look at any culpability on the part of Australian authorities or officials, although some witnesses said there was prior knowledge both of the Indonesian attack and about the presence of Australian journalists in the Balibo area but this was not put together. The court was closed to the public and media for parts of testimony by present and former staff of the electronic intelligence agency, the Defence Signals Directorate, about intercepts of Indonesian radio messages after DSD successfully argued that national security would otherwise be put at risk. Mr Tedeschi played down evidence that DSD's Shoal Bay listening station near Darwin learned within hours that five Australian journalists had been killed according to orders and their bodies burnt, and that this intelligence had been relayed to top officials in Canberra the same day. He accepted other evidence the news had started coming through intelligence channels the next day, reaching then defence minister Bill Morrison and foreign minister Don Willesee, but not getting to prime minister Gough Whitlam until October 21
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