18 September 2008

East Timor PM rejects reports of Reinado execution

ABC Radio Australia 18/09/2008 15:45:13 - East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta has rejected reports that rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was executed rather than killed in a gunbattle with police.

The government says Ramos-Horta was critically wounded and Reinado was killed by police as the rebel led an assassination attempt at the president's compound on the outskirts of Dili in February.

But The Australian newspaper said last month it had obtained the autopsy reports for Reinado and fellow rebel Leopoldino Exposto which showed they had been shot at very close range.

President Ramos-Horta says Alfredo wasn't shot from one or two metres away, nor was he arrested before he was shot.

He came armed to the head of state with a lot more people -- this was a serious situation.

The Australian has reported, forensic pathologist Muhammad Nurul Islam, who conducted the autopsies, saying Reinado and Exposto were killed at close range with a high-velocity rifle.

From ABC Radio Australia

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