Six Indonesian fishermen will stand trial in a Timor Leste court for breaching the neighboring country’s maritime territory.
The six fishermen, identified as Kahar, 25, Ceta, 45, Ambo, 45, Laji, 25, Tiar, 23, and Hasran, 23, are all residents of Sinjai regency, South Sulawesi.
They were on board the KM Masagena 04 vessel when they were arrested by Timor Leste Maritime Police.
They had left Sinjai on Nov. 21, 2011, but it was not until a week ago that they were able to contact their families after being put through a series of questioning sessions by Timor Leste Police.
The Sinjai Legislative Council plans to seek legal aid from the Foreign Ministry to help secure their release.
We will coordinate with the South Sulawesi administration to ask for help from a Foreign Ministry advocacy team, council speaker H. Sulthani said Friday as quoted by tribunnews.com.
He said he was still collecting information about the chronology of the arrest from the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.
2008 The Jakarta Post – PT Bina Media Tenggara