Lawyers call for Tutut's arrest<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Legal experts called upon the police on Sunday
\nto immediately arrest former president Soeharto's eldest daughter
\nSiti Hardiyanti \"Tutut\" Rukmana for allegedly concealing the
\nwhereabouts of her fugitive brother Hutomo \"Tommy\" Mandala Putra.<\/p>\n
Lawyers Frans Hendra Winarta, a member of the National Legal
\nCommission, Albert Hasibuan from the Movement of Concerned
\nCitizens on State Assets (Gempita) and Hendardi from
\nIndonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association separately told
\nThe Jakarta Post there was sufficient legal grounds for the
\npolice to arrest Tutut and detain her.<\/p>\n
They strongly criticized the police for their statement that
\nthey could not take legal action against Tutut, Tommy's other
\nsiblings, or his wife even though they still kept in touch with
\nTommy, upon the grounds that they were a family.<\/p>\n
The police said that they had based their stance on the
\nCriminal Code, which bans the prosecution of anyone for hiding a
\ncriminal who is a member of the family.<\/p>\n
\"This case is different. Tommy is a fugitive. Whoever knows
\nwhere he is, she or he must report it to the police,\" Hasibuan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
At the very least, the police should interrogate Tutut,
\nTommy's other sisters Siti Hediati Hariyadi Prabowo and Siti
\nHutami \"Mamiek\" Endang, as well as his wife Ardhia Pramesti
\nRegita Cahyani, as there were strong indications that they still
\nkept in touch with Tommy, he said.<\/p>\n
The three lawyers alleged that the police lacked the courage
\nto interrogate them, let alone arrest them, because they might be
\nbacked up by high-ranking military officials.<\/p>\n
They said it would be better for both National Police chief
\nGen. Surojo Bimantoro and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan
\nJacoeb to resign if they were afraid to take legal action against
\nTutut and the others.<\/p>\n
\"They should be replaced by officers who are more capable,
\nmore serious (in hunting for Tommy) and more professional,\"
\nHendardi said.<\/p>\n
Early on Sunday morning, police officers were seen checking
\nmotorists passing near the Jl. Cendana area where the Soeharto's
\nreside in an effort to find the fugitive Tommy.<\/p>\n
The police earlier offered a reward -- at first only Rp 25
\nmillion, but increased the next day to Rp 500 million -- for
\nthose who could give information on the fugitive.<\/p>\n
They also dropped pictures of Tommy in his latest guise from a
\nhelicopter.<\/p>\n
Hasibuan said that the police were not really serious in their
\nefforts to arrest Tommy.<\/p>\n
\"Actually, what they have done so far has been just putting on
\na show of force. This is done as a camouflage for the fact that
\nin reality they are not serious,\" Hasibuan said.<\/p>\n
Tommy is the main suspect behind the murder of Supreme Court
\nJustice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita and the series of bombings
\nthat has rocked the city and many other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
Syafiuddin was a member of a panel of judges that sentenced
\nTommy to 18-months imprisonment for corruption in a 1996 land-
\nswap deal between the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and his
\nformer wholesale firm PT Goro Batara Sakti.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the decision was announced late in 2000, Tommy
\ndisappeared.<\/p>\n
Last Monday, a police team found hundreds of explosive
\ndevices, firearms and various other items of evidence in a house
\non Jl. Alam Segar III in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, which was
\nbelieved to have been rented by Tommy.<\/p>\n
On that same night, Sofjan declared Tommy a suspect in the
\nbombings and ordered him to surrender within three days.<\/p>\n
The three lawyers interviewed by the Post shared the opinion
\nthat from the very beginning, the police had been making all the
\nwrong moves.<\/p>\n
\"They suspected that the family knew where Tommy is. But they
\ndid not immediately interrogate them. Now it is almost too late,
\nbut if the police had the guts, they could still do it,\" Hasibuan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He added that the police should also have questioned Tommy's
\nlawyer Nurdiman Munir, and Elza Syarief, Tutut's lawyer, as
\nsuspects if Tommy had contacted them from his hideout. (sim)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/lawyers-call-for-tututs-arrest-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}