Kontras objects to military courts<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Military personnel allegedly involved in the
\nbloody Trisakti and Semanggi incidents should be tried by ad hoc
\njudges rather than a military tribunal, activists said on Friday.<\/p>\n
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence
\n(Kontras) and the Humanitarian Volunteer Team said a military
\ntribunal could not be expected to be objective, as military
\ntribunals tended to protect defendants.<\/p>\n
They were commenting on Air Rear Marshal Graito Husodo's
\nstatement that a military court would begin hearing the Trisakti
\ncase on June 18. The same court will hear the Semanggi case later
\nin the month.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives' special commission for the
\nTrisakti and Semanggi cases held an internal meeting to discuss
\nthe issue on June 6. Only three of the 10 factions represented on
\nthe commission stated that right abuses had occurred during the
\nincidents, according to Kontras secretary Usman Hamid.<\/p>\n
The three factions were the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle faction, the National Awakening Party faction and the
\nLove the Nation Democratic faction.<\/p>\n
\"We suspect that there must be a conspiracy between the House
\nand the TNI (Indonesian Military) not to try the Trisakti and
\nSemanggi cases through an ad hoc trial because the House will
\nneed the TNI's to support for its proposal for a special session
\nof the People's Consultative Assembly,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Usman also said Kontras doubted the Commission for Human
\nRights' independence to investigate violations during the
\nTrisakti and Semanggi incidents. He said the investigation had
\nremained stagnant since the rights body said it needed approval
\nfrom the House to began the probe.<\/p>\n
He said Law No. 26\/2000 on human rights did not stipulate that
\nan investigation of past rights abuses required the approval of
\nthe House.<\/p>\n
Four students from Trisakti University were killed during a
\nrally in May 1998 to demand then president Soeharto's
\nresignation. Five people died in the Semanggi incident in
\nSeptember 1999, when security officers opened fire to disperse a
\ndemonstration over a security bill. (01)<\/p>",
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