KEY POINTS:
The killing of New Zealander Gary Cunningham and four other Australia-based journalists in East Timor in 1975 was deliberate and amounts to a war crime, a New South Wales coroner ruled today.
Evidence will now be forwarded to Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock, who has the power to prosecute such cases.
New Zealand's Acting Foreign Minister Michael Cullen said the report raised many issues surrounding the death of the journalists.
"The report is a further step in what has been a long process and I understand the importance of the result of this inquest for the Cunningham family," he said.
The five journalists, known as the Balibo Five, were deliberately killed to prevent them from exposing Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor, Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch found.
She said there was "strong circumstantial evidence" that the killing of Briton Brian Peters, Australians Malcolm Rennie, Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart and 26-year-old TV cameraman Mr Cunnigham was carried out on orders coming originally from the head of the Indonesian Special Forces Major General Benny Murdani.
There was sufficient evidence that the killings constituted a war crime, she said.
The five were "shot and or stabbed deliberately, and not in the heat of battle, by members of the Indonesian special forces", Ms Pinch said.
Ms Pinch said Indonesian General Benny Murdani was aware of internal political problems in Australia at that time, and likely arranged the invasion of East Timor to capitalise on this.
Dr Cullen said New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be making contact with the Cunningham family to determine its wishes in relation to the return of Mr Cunningham's remains.
"The New Zealand Government has consistently said that those who were responsible for Mr Cunningham's death should be brought to justice," he said.
"New Zealand has regularly raised with Indonesian authorities the importance of seeking accountability for past events.
"We will continue to do so because we believe this is a key step towards bringing reconciliation and laying the foundations for a peaceful future in Timor Leste."
The Green Party's foreign affairs spokesman, Keith Locke, said the Government should offer moral and financial support to Mr Cunningham's family, and should apologise for "neglect in pursuing his case".
"New Zealand, like Australia, was guilty of failing to pursue the issue because it did not want to offend the Indonesians," he said.
Today's findings from Ms Pinch follow eight weeks of evidence on the death of Mr Peters, a British man who lived in NSW, and his colleagues.
Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam and his defence minister Bill Morrison both appeared at the inquest, the latter admitting he knew "within hours" the newsmen had been killed.
But Mr Morrison said he had kept the information from Mr Whitlam, who was caught up in the so-called loans crisis and other Senate issues at the time.
Mr Whitlam insisted at the inquest he had not known of the shooting until October 21, 1975, and could not recall a number of sensitive radio intercepts suggesting the men had been executed on official Indonesian orders.
Official reports have long maintained the five men were killed in crossfire during Indonesia's invasion of East Timor.
But evidence to the inquest said the Indonesian army had been tracking the journalists and official orders were given for them to be executed.
Three were shot dead, another was attacked in the town square and a fifth was stabbed after being forced from a bathroom where he was hiding.
For more than three decades, the families of the five men have been attempting to correct the "historical falsehood" that the men were accidentally shot.
Key events leading up to today's finding:
October 16, 1975 - Brian Peters, Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Tony Stewart are gunned down in the East Timorese border town of Balibo.
October-November 1975 - Richard Johnson, third secretary of the Australian embassy at Jakarta, attempts to investigate the deaths and is "thwarted at every turn" by Indonesian authorities.
April 1976 - Australian embassy official Allan Taylor concludes, after conducting inquiries, that there is "no incontrovertible evidence" about how exactly the five journalists died.
October 1995 - After two inconclusive inquiries in 1975 and 1976, new eyewitness accounts from Timorese soldiers and a former Indonesia-appointed governor of East Timor spark calls for a new investigation.
May 27, 1996 - Sherman inquiry concludes the Balibo Five died at the hands of Indonesian-led troops in the heat of battle.
August 24, 1998 - Australia's foreign ministry denies allegations of a "cover-up" and that it was forewarned about the impending Indonesian attack.
February 19, 1999 - Reopened Sherman report again finds Indonesian special forces troops were responsible for the deaths, but labels the act a "monumental blunder", not murder.
December 6, 2000 - NSW police launch an investigation into the deaths, opening the way for a coronial inquiry.
2000-2001 - Investigation of civilian police from the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) recommends a number of arrest warrants be issued. Attempts blocked by Indonesian government, who refuse to allow the interview of nine key suspects.
June 3, 2002 - A private report by Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Bill Blick finds the Australian government did not mishandle intelligence reports on the deaths.
June 6, 2005 - NSW Coroner's Court announces it will hold an inquest into the death of Brian Peters, who was a NSW resident.
December 1, 2005 - Diplomatic cables are published in the media, claiming the British and Australian governments colluded to cover up the killings.
January 2006 - Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor, a statutory authority formed to investigate human rights abuses between 1974 and 1999, finds the men were not killed in crossfire and that Indonesian forces had prior knowledge of their presence in Balibo.
February 5, 2007 - NSW inquest begins.
February 22, 2007 - Two commonwealth officials tell the court they were shown in 1977 an intercepted Indonesian radio message from October 16, 1975, indicating that five journalists had been located and shot as instructed.
February 23, 2007 - Former Office of Current Intelligence analyst Gary Klintworth says he was ordered to destroy an intelligence briefing regarding the deaths of the journalists on October 17.
March 1, 2007 - A warrant is issued for the arrest of Indonesian MP and former military captain Yunus Yosfiah, following his failure to respond to requests to attend the inquest. Yosfiah again declines to participate, saying the matter is "closed".
May 8, 2007 - Former prime minister Gough Whitlam tells the inquest he twice warned Greg Shackleton not to go to East Timor, and says he knew nothing of the deaths until five days after they occurred.
May 30, 2007 - Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso angrily cuts short an Australian visit after being asked to front the coronial inquest; NSW Premier Morris Iemma apologises.
June 1, 2007 - Inquest ends after eight weeks of evidence.
November 7, 2007 - Daughter of Don Willesee, foreign minister in 1975, claims he made a death-bed confession in 2003 that the government knew the newsmen had been murdered.
November 16, 2007 - Deputy State Coroner Dorelle Pinch finds Cunningham and his four colleagues were captured and killed by Indonesian forces to keep them from publicising the invasion of East Timor. Brief is referred to federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock for consideration of war crimes charges and recommends urgent action on repatriation of the men's remains.
- AAP
