Joao Sarmento, leader of the brutal Tim Ablai militia, was sentenced to 9 years in prison by an East Timor Court. Sarmento pleaded guilty to the charge: three counts of murder and the forced deportation of civilians during the 1999 independence movement, but plans to appeal. He claims that the punishment for his crimes is too harsh; the Indonesian officials who forced him to commit the atrocities still run free, protected in Indonesia.
