JP\/3\/Tampubolon\/0<\/p>\n
Suspects in Tampubolon's case in good health<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The police have promised that torture was not
\nused to wrest the confessions from the four men accused of
\nkilling an army general last week.<\/p>\n
\"They are all fine,\" City Police spokesman Lt. Col. A. Latief
\nRabar told reporters yesterday after confirming that the suspects
\nhave been treated fairly with officers at the East Jakarta police
\nprecinct where the four are being detained.<\/p>\n
Latief's statement was made to dismiss the public suspicion
\nthat the four will likely be tortured by investigators or other
\nmembers of the security forces during questioning.<\/p>\n
The four suspects are identified as Rusdi Abdul Rahman, 24,
\nHendrik Setyawan, 25, Rudiyanto, 24, and Lukman, 30. Rusdi was a
\nsecurity guard at a private house close to the scene of the
\nkilling, Hendrik a construction worker, Rudiyanto an employee of
\na firm and Lukman a local ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver.<\/p>\n
The police claim that Brig. Gen. Toga Manahan Franklin
\nTampubolon, 54, an expert staff on economic affairs to the Armed
\nForces (ABRI) chief was stabbed with a bayonet by Rusdi and
\ngashed with a machete by Hendrik on the evening of April 4. The
\nother two are accused of helping.<\/p>\n
Tampubolon died at the UKI hospital in East Jakarta, half an
\nhour after the attack at around 10 p.m. in front of a Warteg food
\nstall on the road, which is less than a 10-minute drive from his
\nhouse on Jl. Cakra Wijaya at the Armed Forces' Diskum AD housing
\ncomplex.<\/p>\n
The police continue to insist that the crime was not a
\npolitical assassination, but an unfortunate case of being in the
\nwrong place at the wrong time.<\/p>\n
Six and a half hours after their arrest a number of high-
\nranking police and military officers \"visited\" the four young men
\nat the back of the East Jakarta police precinct.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Tampubolon's son, Second Lt. Richard Tampubolon
\nalso came to the police precinct.<\/p>\n
Latief also said that the four have yet to be accompanied by
\nlawyers during interrogation.<\/p>\n
\"They said they're still considering\" legal representation,
\nsaid Latief, adding that Rusdi graduated from a vocational high
\nschool while Hendrik finished primary school.<\/p>\n
Recently, executive director of the legal aid foundation
\n(YLBHI), Mulyana W. Kusumah, said that foundation lawyers have
\npledged to accompany the four suspects during the questioning to
\nprevent pressure, including torture, by the investigators.<\/p>\n
The material evidence in connection with the killing,
\nincluding the bayonet, the machete and Tampubolon's car are at
\nthe police precinct as the police work on their investigation.<\/p>\n
The victim was a former intelligence deputy assistant to
\nABRI's chief of general affairs and also a group commander for
\none of ABRI's four elite red beret Kopassus squads. Tampubolon
\nalso worked on the dispute at the Toba Batak Protestant Church
\nfor ABRI.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Kopassus Commander Brig. Gen. Agum Gumelar said
\nyesterday he takes the death of Tampubolon as a sign of a
\ndecadent society.<\/p>\n
\"Crimes in the city have reached an alarming level and things
\nare feared to deteriorate if proper measures aren't taken to stop
\nthem,\" the one-star general said.<\/p>\n
Brig. Gen. Agum said that the red berets are ready to move in
\nand help Jakarta authorities clean up the streets. (bsr\/rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp3tampubolon0-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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