Kiwi officer sparks new torture probe

A New Zealand Army legal officer has been named as the source of a fresh inquiry into claims that Australian soldiers tortured East Timorese militiamen.

While earlier claims of torture were investigated and found to lack substance, the Courier Mail newspaper in Brisbane has reported that the legal officer, Major Andrena Gill, appealed to senior Australian Army officers to investigate the claims further.

Major Gill is understood to have given a statement to an Australian taskforce - which is conducting a new inquiry after fresh allegations - that she tried to ensure that the torture claims were fully investigated.

An Australian Defence Force spokesman confirmed that Major Gill had contacted the taskforce, but he could not say what she had told its members.

Any allegation of atrocities or unacceptable behaviour was taken seriously, he said.

"When the allegations first surfaced in October 1999 there was an investigation," he said.

"However, no further action was taken because of a lack of substance to those allegations."

The torture claim involved Australian soldiers, believed to be from the elite Special Air Service.

They were alleged to have detained several militia members after two militiamen were killed during a gun battle at Suai a fortnight after Interfet peacekeepers arrived in East Timor.

A fresh allegation, revealed this month, was that some SAS posed for "trophy photographs" with the dead Indonesian militia.

That claim led to the present inquiry, which began in September and has involved Australian federal police and the three branches of the military.

"New elements came to light and that investigation is progressing," said the Defence Force spokesman.

"But I understand there is not a lot of fresh evidence at this stage."

This month, former Interfet commander Lieutenant-General Peter Cosgrove admitted that the torture claims could damage the reputation of Australian forces in East Timor.

General Cosgrove, now chief of the Australian Army, said he would be outraged if the allegations were true.

- NZPA

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UN Transitional Administration in E Timor