Kontras, Amnesty International criticize justice system<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The watchdog group National Commission on Missing Persons and
\nVictims of Violence (Kontras) is of the opinion that torture,
\nespecially during the interrogation of suspects in the country,
\nwill not end if the state fails to thoroughly improve the
\ncriminal justice system.<\/p>\n
Kontras co-founder Munir said on Monday that no current laws
\nor regulations are directly applicable against torture nor can
\nany be used to control the behavior of the police, state
\ninvestigators or the military and security forces.<\/p>\n
The government has only begun to concentrate on creating legal
\nprohibitions against torture in the draft of the revised Criminal
\nCode which is not yet complete, but will be debated in the House
\nof Representatives when they reconvene.<\/p>\n
Munir argued that such a condition, inevitably, gives impunity
\nto those responsible for human rights abuses in the course of
\ninterrogations.<\/p>\n
\"Even though Indonesia has signed the international convention
\nagainst torture in 1998, which has been stipulated in our
\nCriminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, it doesn't mean that
\nour national laws are automatically enforceable to end the
\nabuses.<\/p>\n
\"Those laws have no support from other laws, such as the
\nmilitary law or clauses in the procedure code controlling the
\ninvestigators. Therefore, the logical result is, they give
\nimpunity to the perpetrators of torture,\" he told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
Munir made the remarks in response to Amnesty International's
\nsuggestion, whose press release was made available to the Post,
\nwhich stated that to explicitly prohibit torture in the Criminal
\nCode is the first and most basic step that should be taken by
\nJakarta to end torture.<\/p>\n
Amnesty's statement was made in conjunction with the current
\nmeeting of the United Nations Committee against Torture which is
\nreviewing periodic reports from the governments of Indonesia,
\nIsrael, Ukraine, Zambia and Benin.<\/p>\n
A team of 10 independent experts, who chaired the session in
\nGeneva, Switzerland, questioned Jakarta's commitment, after
\nreading reports of ill-treatment carried out by the security
\nforces in many forms.<\/p>\n
Amnesty revealed that its documented cases of torture included
\ncriminal suspects and individuals involved in land and labor
\ndisputes, who are often beaten, burnt with cigarettes or matches,
\nthreatened with death, or raped by interrogators.<\/p>\n
However, National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Edward
\nAritonang argued that his force had taken firm actions against
\npolicemen who were in violation of the laws which prohibit
\ntorture of suspects.<\/p>\n
He also stated that suspects would, in the future, always be
\naccompanied by their lawyers during interrogation -- the police
\nwill provide lawyers if the suspects cannot afford them -- so the
\nsuspects can file a protest should there be any torture.<\/p>\n
\"The existing laws clearly state that those responsible for
\ntorture will be punished. However, I cannot say that there is no
\ntorture during interrogation, but we work diligently to avoid it.
\nWe have even brought some of our men to the military court for
\ntorturing suspects,\" he told the Post.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kontras-amnesty-international-criticize-justice-system-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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