Amien might sue 'Indonesia's Pinochet'<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN)
\nAmien Rais said on Saturday he was ready to face the law suit
\nfiled against him by former president Soeharto, whom he likened
\nto former Chilean dictator Pinochet, and even threatened a
\ncounter lawsuit.<\/p>\n
Amien, speaking after being installed as a professor of
\npolitics at Gadjah Mada University, said if Soeharto was serious,
\n\"I will also sue him, mainly for crimes against humanity in
\nIndonesia.\"<\/p>\n
\"I will use international links to sue him as the Pinochet of
\nIndonesia,\" Amien added. He said earlier he would request leave
\nof absence from the state-run university in order to concentrate
\non his party, as required in the new law governing civil
\nservants.<\/p>\n
Activists have also said Soeharto should be charged with human
\nrights violations.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's lawyer Muhammad Assegaf on Friday disclosed in
\nSurabaya, East Java, that Soeharto plans to file an action
\nagainst Amien, sociologist George Yunus Aditjondro and political
\nobserver Christianto Wibisono, for defaming him and his family.<\/p>\n
Assegaf said Soeharto was declaring his plan to sue his
\ncritics because he had yet to be proved guilty of corruption,
\ncollusion and nepotism.<\/p>\n
\"Pak Harto can no longer stand their defamations,\" Assegaf
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Assegaf said he had told Soeharto that he could not act as his
\nlawyer in lawsuits involving Amien, because Assegaf is on the
\nadvisory board of the National Mandate Party.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile former deputy chief justice Adi Andojo Soetjipto
\nsaid in Semarang that cleansing the courts of the \"mafia\" was of
\nutmost importance before any effort is made to bring Soeharto to
\ncourt.<\/p>\n
\"If not, he would likely walk free,\" Antara reported.<\/p>\n
It is too difficult to investigate Soeharto with the current
\ncondition of the courts, he said.<\/p>\n
Since he had spoken out against shortcomings in the Supreme
\nCourt a few years ago, there has been no progress, he said.
\n(23\/prb)<\/p>",
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