A journalist shot dead in East Timor was probably killed by the Indonesian army (TNI), a coroner in Australia has concluded, writes Conor O'Clery in Beijing.
Mr Sander Thoenes (30), a Dutch national and Financial Times employee, went missing on September 21st, the day after Australian troops arrived in East Timor to restore order, following violence by TNI soldiers and pro-Indonesian militias. His mutilated body was discovered in the capital, Dili, the next day.
The Northern Territory coroner, Mr Greg Cavanagh, found that Mr Thoenes had been shot in the back, probably after he fell off a motorcycle. He said: "It is probable that a member or members of the 745 battalion [mainly East Timorese] of the TNI shot the deceased."
An autopsy in Darwin on September 24th found Mr Thoenes's left ear was hacked off and his face mutilated. Mr Thoenes, who was based in Jakarta, had gone on the back of a motorbike to the suburb of Bacora after arriving in Dili on September 21st.
Mr Thoenes's driver, Mr Florinda Da Conceiro Araujo, said he turned to escape after six people in TNI uniforms pointed weapons, but the motorbike crashed. Mr Araujo got away on foot.