Slow Road to Justice

The young boy returned to the mountain village of Letefoho in fear and disgrace. He was a child in 1999 when, swept up in the militia violence that followed East Timor's vote for independence, he burnt down his aunt's house and fled. When he finally came home this year, the teenager had no idea of what he would face. He bought new roofing material for his aunt and waited. And in a public ceremony last month, he apologized to her and to his neighbors, and was forgiven.

Across East Timor, hundreds like him have come home. A few...