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SYDNEY - The Sydney coroner conducting an inquest into the death of one of the Balibo Five has invited a retiring lieutenant-general and former Indonesian government minister to give evidence.
The inquest at Glebe Coroner's Court in Sydney is hearing evidence into the death of Brian Peters, one of five Australian-based newsmen killed in East Timor in 1975.
Taking what she acknowledged was an "unusual" step, Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch read an open letter to the court in which she asked Yunus Yosfiah to appear before the court.
Mr Yosfiah has been named on numerous occasions during the inquest as the commanding officer of the 1975 Balibo invasion, and the man who ordered the journalists' deaths.
Official government reports have said Mr Peters, 29, and reporter Malcolm Rennie, 28, Seven Network reporter Greg Shackleton, 27, New Zealand cameraman Gary Cunningham, 27, and sound recordist Tony Stewart, 21, were killed in cross fire between Indonesian forces and Fretilin troops on October 16, 1975.
But several East Timorese eye witnesses have told the inquest that the men were murdered and their bodies burnt.
"In the course of the inquest I have heard evidence that you are one of the commanders of the Indonesian forces that attacked Balibo on 16th of October 1975," Ms Pinch wrote in the letter.
"Furthermore, you were one of the first to enter the township and were there when the journalists died.
"It seems, therefore, that you may be able to provide important evidence about how Mr Peters and his colleagues died and what happened to their bodies subsequently."
Ms Pinch said she had sent invitation previously to Yosfiah via Indonesia's Ambassador to Australia, Teuku Mohammad Hamzah Thayeb, but had received no response.
"Hence I am now writing to you directly to invite you to give evidence to the inquest," she read.
- AAP
