Army captain faces 18 months in prison<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Military prosecutors are demanding that an Army
\ncaptain be imprisoned for 18 months for failing to report a plot
\nto kill a labor activist last year.<\/p>\n
Captain Kusaeri, formerly chief of Porong Military Command, is
\nbeing tried in the military tribunal in Surabaya in connection
\nwith the murder of Marsinah, a worker at a watchmaking company,
\nPT Citra Putra Surya, in Sidoarjo near Surabaya, in May last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Col. Srihadi Rahayu, who is prosecuting the case, said
\n49-year-old Kusaeri knowingly or inadvertently failed to report
\nthe murder plan to his superiors, both before and after it was
\ncarried out. The prosecution dropped earlier charges that Kusaeri
\nwas part of the plan.<\/p>\n
The defendant is the only Army officer being tried in
\nconnection with the murder, which became an international issue
\nlast year when labor and human rights groups used it to showcase
\nthe plight of Indonesian workers before the international
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
Marsinah's badly mutilated body was found in an abandoned
\nshack in a forest in Nganjuk on May 9, only a few days after she
\nhad led a workers' strike at the watchmaking company.<\/p>\n
Nine people, including the company's director, his staff and
\nsecurity guards, have already been convicted in connection with
\nthe murder, thanks in part to Kusaeri's testimony.<\/p>\n
The motive of the murder was never precisely determined in
\ncourt. The prosecution said she was killed because she may have
\nthreatened the management saying she would go public with some
\nconfidential information that could threaten the company's
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n
Retracted<\/p>\n
Some of those convicted were summoned to testify in Kusaeri's
\nmarathon trial, but they all used the opportunity to retract the
\nstatements they gave to their military interrogators, saying the
\nstatements were extracted through torture.<\/p>\n
Rahayu urged the tribunal to ignore the fact that they had
\nretracted the statements, which incriminated themselves and
\nKusaeri. She pleaded with Judge Col. Baruno to base his decision
\non the written statement presented before the court rather than
\noral testimony before the tribunal.<\/p>\n
According to the prosecution, Kusaeri caught a ride on May 5
\non a van belonging to the company. Marsinah was present at the
\ntime. The defendant was also involved in a meeting of company
\nstaff members on the same day during which he apparently heard
\nthat they should \"get rid\" of Marsinah.<\/p>\n
Kusaeri never denied that he was at the meeting, but insisted
\nthat he took the words \"get rid\" to mean to expel the woman from
\nthe company.<\/p>\n
According to the prosecution, on May 11 Kusaeri approached the
\ncompany directors saying pointedly \"how could you have done such
\na thing to her?\" Yet the defendant never reported anything about
\nthis to his superiors.<\/p>\n
\"His action has tainted the image of the Armed Forces,\" Rahayu
\nsaid, adding however that Kusaeri had a distinct military career
\nfor 16 years, and received merit awards for the three times he
\nserved in East Timor and one for service in Irian Jaya. (emb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/army-captain-faces-18-months-in-prison-1447893297",
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