Aust Govt left rebel Reinado's lover 'on a limb'
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Reinado was killed in the February gun battle. (ABC TV: ABC)
The former lover of East Timor rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who is accused of being involved in an assassination attempt on the East Timor President, says bureaucratic delays by the Australian Government are preventing her from defending herself.
Angelita Pires, who is half Australian, says the Federal Government did not want to offend East Timor, and was slow to approve her request for legal funding.
She says the delay forced her public defender lawyer to leave the country this week and she now has no legal representation.
Reinado was killed in the February gun battle and Ms Pires says she was not involved in the attempt on Dr Ramos-Horta's life.
"Because of the political nature of this place, and I think also they didn''t want to offend, because this is against Ramos-Horta's, possibly against his wishes, that I be well defended you know," she said.
"So they didn't want to offend, and this fear of getting involved, they've left me quite frankly on a limb."
Darwin-based Ms Pires says the investigation has now been extended another six months and as an Australian citizen, the Government should be doing more to help her prove her innocence.
"I am a woman, I'm a student, I live a very private life. Reinado and I fell in love, we were planning a future, we were planning a child, if that is a crime, then there's not much I can do about that," she said.
Ms Pires says since Reinado's death, she has been victimised by the East Timorese Government and that she was given no assistance when she miscarried a child she and Reinado had conceived.
"The loss of my child was unbearable. I went through some very, very dark periods," she said.
"There were times where I no longer had the will to live, the desire to live, because what they did was they broke my soul, it's different when somebody breaks your bones, you can heal that."
