Murder of Balibo 5 probe reopened
The Australian Federal Police have launched a war crimes investigation into the murders of five Australian newsmen at Balibo, East Timor, in 1975, allegedly by Indonesian troops.
In November 2007 NSW deputy coroner, Dorelle Pinch, found that the Balibo Five were executed in October 1975 by Indonesian Special Forces to stop them revealing details of Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor.
“There is strong circumstantial evidence that those orders emanated from the head of Indonesian Special Forces, Major-General Benny Murdani to Colonel Dading Kalbuadi, Special Forces Group Commander in Timor, and then to Captain Yunus,” Ms Pinch found. Murdani and Kalbuadi are dead.
Indonesia claimed the five were killed in crossfire during the battle for the town.
(RTWT)