Quotes of the Day

As he fled from the soldiers, something made Joliao Soares-Gusmão jump to the left. His friend Leandro Perreira wasn't so lucky. The 27-year-old simply turned and ran; within seconds he fell dead, struck by a bullet in the back.

Joliao and Leandro, a language student, were among a group of young men who, as street battles raged in Dili on the night of May 27, took refuge in the compound of the Don Bosco Catholic church, in the city's west. There they huddled, along with hundreds of other terrified residents of the district, listening to the sound of gunfire. As the hours ticked by, rumors swept the compound. "We heard that the military were going to come in and get us,'' says Joliao. After midnight, the young men decided to walk into the hills to escape. Joliao and Leandro set off together. They'd only gone about 500 m when, cresting a hill, they stumbled on some soldiers laying weapons at the ready. The youths fled; Leandro was killed.

Joliao says he hid in some bushes until the soldiers had gone: "I heard them say, 'The dog is dead.' " Two hours later, Leandro's father and his sister Isabel learned what had happened and rushed to the hospital. The soldiers there would not let them see Leandro's body, she says. They said Leandro "was studying political science and was a protestor. But that is not true." It was five agonizing days before the soldiers allowed Leandro's uncle, Ramiro Gomaz, to see him—and even then he was permitted to view only his nephew's head.

"How can this happen?" Isabel says. "He died because of the government. They should have responsibility for this case, because my brother was not involved in it at all—none of these things that have happened.'' Gomaz says those responsible should be held accountable. Otherwise, "the people will do the justice.''

• Rory Callinan
• As he fled from the soldiers, something made Joliao Soares-Gusmao jump to the left.