Amnesty International Hails US Court's Verdict on Exxon Mobile in Aceh

London - Amnesty International hailed the decision of the United States court of appeals on US-based Exxon Mobil in facing the demand for the alleged murder outside the law, torture and arrest by Indonesian troops in Aceh province, Indonesia, under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). A group of rural people from Aceh had filed civil cases in 2001 and 2007 against Exxon Mobil Corporation, the US company which operates the big natural gas extraction and processing facilities in Aceh province in 2000 and 2001, Campaigner of Indonesia & Timor-Leste, Amnesty International Secretariat, Josef Roy Benedict, told ANTARA's London correspondent on Thursday. Josef Roy Benedict said they claimed that Exxon Mobil is responsible for the involvement in the alleged violation of human rights by Indonesian troops who were supposed to protect the property and operations of the company. In the first and second verdicts on July 8, 2011, the US court of appeals stated that Exxon Mobil did not have the company's immunity against the claim made by 15 Indonesians under the ATS. The decision to send a signal to the Indonesian government to do more to make sure of the truth and justice for the past human rights violations in Aceh. There were no suspects brought before the court for one of the thousands of cases of human rights violations including torture, believed to have taken place between 1989 and 1998 when the province was a Military Operation Area (DOM). Aceh province faced rebellion for tens of years including human rights violation and lack of development, which ended after the peace agreement of August 2005, while the Indonesian government and the armed pro-freedom movement (Free Aceh Movement/GAM) was signed. Law no 2006 on the Aceh administration on the formation of a human rights court on the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) Aceh branch. The two government institutions have not been set up until today.