ABRI to support torture convention<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces has vowed to support the
\ninternational convention against torture should the government
\nand the House of Representatives decide to adopt it into law.<\/p>\n
Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung yesterday
\nexpressed ABRI's readiness to stand behind the government and the
\nHouse in their stance on the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture
\nor Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.<\/p>\n
\"No problem for us. We will support it if the government
\nratifies it,\" he said according to Antara reports from Jambi.
\nAsked whether the forces, in particular the National Police
\nforce, will be ready to implement the convention, Feisal said
\nyes.<\/p>\n
\"If the UN convention is ratified, our investigators will work
\nin accordance with the rules,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Feisal was the second to come out in support of recent calls
\nfor Indonesia to ratify the convention. The first to come out in
\nsupport were members of the Golkar dominant faction at the House
\nof Representatives.<\/p>\n
The calls, from observers and scholars, to ratify the
\nconvention have emerged following the widely reported violent
\ndeath of Tjetje Tadjudin, a robbery suspect, allegedly at the
\nhands of police investigators in Bogor, West Java.<\/p>\n
The government has promised Indonesia would soon ratify the
\nconvention to put and end to the practice of using violence
\nduring criminal investigations.<\/p>\n
Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman said the government was
\nwilling to ratify the document but needed to address \"some
\ntechnicalities\" first. One of the \"technicalities\" impeding the
\ngovernment was that many agencies and personnel are not yet ready
\nto implement the convention.<\/p>\n
Oetojo had argued that although Indonesia has yet to ratify
\nthe convention, the Criminal Code already contains provisions for
\nthe protection of suspects' rights.<\/p>\n
The National Commission on Human Rights have sent an
\ninvestigation team to probe allegations of Tjetje's torture
\nfollowing growing criticism that many incidents of security
\nforces torturing suspects have gone unheeded because the
\ngovernment has yet to ratify the UN Convention.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Feisal said ABRI respected the rights commission
\nfor also sending a team to investigate the death of Yogyakarta-
\nbased journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin and the allegedly
\narbitrary arrest of his suspected killer.<\/p>\n
\"The commission can join (in the investigation). But, we are
\nstill the institution authorized to solve the case,\" he said when
\nasked whether the commission was intruding in police affairs.<\/p>\n
Feisal said he hoped the commission would be as objective as
\npossible, and that it consider the case in its general context.
\nHe did not elaborate. (swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/abri-to-support-torture-convention-1447893297",
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