Balide Comarca is a museum and former prison in
Dili
Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...
,
Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
.
Construction
The Portugese colonial administration built the prison in 1963 on marshy land in an area notorious for mosquitos.
[ It was surrounded by Portugese military buldings.][ It replaced a prison behind Government Palace.]
Indonesian occupation
From 7 December 1974 the Indonesian military took over the prison and detained independence activists as well as criminals charged with minor offences and members of Indonesian National Armed Forces
The Indonesian National Armed Forces (; abbreviated as TNI) are the military forces of the Republic of Indonesia. It consists of the Indonesian Army, Army (''TNI-AD''), Indonesian Navy, Navy (''TNI-AL''), and Indonesian Air Force, Air Force ('' ...
who broke disciplinary rules.[
People from across East Timor were detained in the prison from 1976.][ It was the only prison in Dili until 1986.][ Women detainees were moved here the same year.][
The prison was under control of military police, remaining so until 1999, though the Indonesian government had ordered it to be run by the Justice Ministry in 1990.]
Torture
Detainees were subject to torture, including beatings, being boiled in a barrel of water, being forced to stand in the prison yard during hotest parts of the day, electrocution and rape.[ Both men and women were tortured.][
There were cells known as "dark cells" with no windows, which prisoners dreaded being sent to, because many sent to those cells died.][ These cells were overcrowded and filthy.][ If one prisoner in one of these cells fell ill, others would become ill soon after.][
Conditions did improve in the 1990s due to interventions by the ]International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...
and Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
.[
]
1999
After the independence referendum
An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an Independence, independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independenc ...
in 1999, the attacks carried out by Indonesian forces included burning the prison, though prisoners managed to escape before the burning.
Post independence
After independence the building housed the .[ It is now the home of the Centro Nacional Chega!, the Commissions' archive and a museum open to the public.][
]
References
{{reflist
Indonesian war crimes
1960s in Portuguese Timor
1970s in East Timor
1980s in East Timor
1990s in East Timor
Indonesian occupation of East Timor