Marsinah case closed<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Police have closed their investigation into the
\n1993 murder of labor activist Marsinah after their last lead, a
\nDNA test, failed because the blood sample had been contaminated.<\/p>\n
"We are temporarily closing the investigation due to a lack of
\nevidence," National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo said
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
"We sent the blood sample to Britain, but the laboratory could
\nnot use it for a DNA test because it was contaminated.<\/p>\n
"The sample was two years old," he said.<\/p>\n
The DNA test was the last and probably only lead the police
\nhad to sustain their investigation into the murder which had
\nstirred public outcry at home and abroad.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court in 1994 acquitted nine people whom the
\nSurabaya District Court had convicted for Marsinah's murder,
\nruling that the trials were inconclusive, and that much of the
\nevidence was extracted from the suspects by force.<\/p>\n
Marsinah was found dead after organizing a workers' strike at
\nPT Catur Putra Surya, a watch manufacturer in Sidoarjo, East
\nJava. Her badly mutilated body was found on May 9, 1993, in an
\nabandoned shack near Nganjuk in East Java.<\/p>\n
Marsinah's death has since become a rallying point for workers
\nin demanding better treatment from authorities. She has also been
\ngiven various awards posthumously, including the workers' hero
\naward by the All-Indonesia Workers Union.<\/p>\n
Police brought the nine suspects -- the owners, managers and
\nsecurity officers of the company -- to Surabaya District Court,
\nand all of them were subsequently convicted.<\/p>\n
The suspects had pleaded their innocence and said they were
\nframed for the murder because the government was taking so much
\nheat from labor organizations and human rights campaigners at
\nhome and abroad.<\/p>\n
After their release in 1994, police insisted that they
\nremained the chief suspects and that the DNA test would support
\ntheir cause for a new trial. (cst\/emb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/marsinah-case-closed-1447893297",
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