112 army, 13 police personnel charged in Madiun clash<\/p>\n
Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya<\/p>\n
The joint team set up to investigate September's army-police
\nclash in Madiun, in which three teenagers were killed, has
\ncharged 112 army and 13 police personnel as suspects, and they
\nwill now be brought to court, East Java Military Police chief
\nCol. Soejono said here on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Speaking to five members of House of Representatives (DPR)
\nCommission I, Soejono said that 207 people consisting of military
\nand police personnel, students and local residents, had been
\nquestioned.<\/p>\n
"We questioned 35 police officers before deciding that 13 of
\nthem could formally be charged as suspects," he said.<\/p>\n
"The charges against the 125 suspects differ. We have prepared
\nnine indictments against them and the files have been grouped
\ntogether according to the acts they committed."<\/p>\n
The indictments covered the initial incident at a gas station
\nup to the fatal shooting of three high school students, Soejono
\nsaid. "We have to separate the indictments very clearly so as to
\nmake the legal proceedings easier."<\/p>\n
On Sept. 15, fighting erupted between members of the Army
\nStrategic Reserves Command (Kostrad)'s 501st Airborne Infantry
\nBattalion and Madiun Police officers. The clashes, which claimed
\nthree teenagers' lives, flared up over a small dispute between
\nmembers of the two organizations.<\/p>\n
Kostrad chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu then discharged the
\ncommander of Kostrad's 501st Airborne Infantry Battalion, Maj.
\nKomistin Hadirin, and his deputy Maj. Nurcholid, as well as 20
\nmembers of the battalion, over the deadly attack on Madiun Police
\nstation and several other police stations at midnight on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
Madiun Police precinct chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eddy Hariyanto was
\nalso discharged three days later.<\/p>\n
East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutanto, who attended
\nWednesday's hearing with the House members, said that seven AK
\n101 rifles, seven SKS rifles and five pistols had been seized as
\nevidence. "The investigators also found 23 cartridge cases."
\nUnfortunately, the investigators did not recover a single
\nprojectile from the bodies of the dead victims."<\/p>\n
"The police officers who became involved in the clash were
\nthose who were upset following the seizure of one SKS rifle and
\nfour pistols by members of the 501st Infantry Battalion. The
\nsoldiers had also threatened to attack them soon."<\/p>\n
"Our men, including the Mobile Brigade, then readied
\nthemselves to respond to the threat. They were in a life or death
\nsituation and had to defend their headquarters. It was in these
\ncircumstances that a large group of students on motorbikes passed
\nby. Our men thought they were members of the Infantry Battalion
\nwho were going to attack them. The electricity was also out that
\nnight," Sutanto explained.<\/p>\n
"But we recovered projectiles from the bodies of three
\nsurvivors, Agung, Edwin and Dimas, while they were being treated
\nat the Saiful Anwar Hospital in Malang. The projectiles are being
\nexamined by the National Police Headquarters Laboratory in
\nJakarta. We hope that the projectiles will determine who shot the
\nstudents."<\/p>\n
Permadi, who led the House team, said that the House expected
\na joint tribunal be set up. "We don't want such a fatal incident
\nto happen again in the future."<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/112-army-13-police-personnel-charged-in-madiun-clash-1447893297",
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