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Design

Design of Comarca Balide

After independence, Timor-Leste’s Association of Ex-Political Prisoners (ASEPPOL) assumed guardianship of Comarca Balide. In April 2002, ASEPPOL agreed to give CAVR use of the building throughout its mandate, and suggested that the building be turned into “a center for the promotion of human rights and reconciliation in East Timor.”

The Japanese government helped fund CAVR’s move into the former prison. A Timorese company, PT Rosario, run by Julio Alfaro, a former political prisoner, managed the reconstruction of the site. On February 17, 2003, former president Xanana Gusmão inaugurated the rehabilitated Comarca Balide. “As you know, this building was formerly a prison for the detention of political prisoners,” Gusmão told the audience of thousands. “It has undergone a transformation to become a human rights center. The work of the CAVR aims also to facilitate a transformation from trauma to peace of heart. The CAVR does not only search for the truth but seeks to facilitate transformation in the society from trauma to peace.”

The designers preserved over sixty-five graffiti markings made by East Timorese prisoners or their Indonesian prison guards, and erected a large traditional meeting space in the prison’s former exercise courtyard. Additionally, a woman who had been detained in the prison with her mother when she was a child planted gardens within the courtyard space. Upon completion of the construction and rebuilding, a traditional cleansing ceremony was conducted to symbolically remove the spirits associated with the site’s history of abuse and violence. Later, during the tenure of the CAVR, the Comarca site was used to host public hearings, healing workshops, and other cathartic activities.

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