Indonesia releases former East Timor militia leader

Indonesia's Supreme Court has cleared the only person jailed over the violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 vote for independence, a judge said Saturday.

Former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in May 2006 by a tribunal trying military officers and officials for atrocities in East Timor.

The Supreme Court overturned the verdict on appeal.

Supreme Judge Joko Sarwoko told AFP that Guterres "was not proven to have structural command to coordinate attacks, even if he was the leader of the militia, so he could not be held responsible for the violence".