Wiranto played a significant role in facilitating severe human rights violations by the Indonesian army and Jakarta-backed militias, during Indonesia's withdrawal from the occupied territory of East Timor in 1999. Both the United Nations and domestic groups have gathered evidence on this, but he continues to deny the charges. In January 2000, an Indonesian commission placed general responsibility for these injustices on Wiranto. In May 2004, the United Nations-backed Special Panels of the Dili District Court indicted Wiranto and charged him with war crimes. Wiranto claimed the move was an effort to discredit his political ambititions.