Marsinah's murder case is not closed: Experts<\/p>\n
By Riyadi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Although 10 people have already been convicted
\nover the highly controversial murder of labor activist Marsinah,
\nmany legal experts say the case is by no means closed and that
\nthe real murderers may still be at large.<\/p>\n
The experts said the court proceedings appeared to be
\ndefective, noting that the courts even ignored the findings of
\nthe National Commission on Human Rights which suggested that
\nthere are other suspects besides the ten convicts.<\/p>\n
\"It's strange, the convicts were given harsh sentences, while
\nat the same time there are strong indications that there are
\nother suspects,\" Marzuki Darusman of the Commission said.
\n\"Whether they were involved in the killing or not is the courts'
\ndecision, but the defendants are entitled to get fair trials,\"
\nMarzuki told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Luhut M. Pangaribuan, chairman of the Jakarta Legal Aid
\nInstitute, said the judges should have used the Commission's fact
\nfindings in their consideration. \"Given that our judges have
\nmonopolistic power, the least they could have done was to
\nconsider the findings,\" Luhut said.<\/p>\n
Nine civilians and an Army captain have been convicted for the
\nmurder of 24-year old Marsinah, whose badly mutilated body was
\nfound on May 8, 1993 in Nganjuk in East Java.<\/p>\n
A few days earlier, the 24-year old labor activist led a
\nworkers' strike at PT Citra Putra Surya, the watchmaking company
\nin Sidoarjo where she worked.<\/p>\n
Her murder sparked national and international outcries as
\nhuman rights and labor activists used it to illustrate the
\nrampant violations of human rights in Indonesia to the outside
\nworld.<\/p>\n
Controversial<\/p>\n
The court proceedings were just as controversial. Police were
\ncriticized for the way they arrested the nine civilian
\ndefendants, ignoring arrest procedures and violating the
\nsuspects' rights. Then there were allegations that the defendants
\nwere tortured by their investigators.<\/p>\n
The courts handed down sentences ranging from seven months to
\n17 years imprisonment. The lightest was given to Mutiari, the
\ncompany's personnel officer and the only woman among the 10
\nconvicted. The heaviest was delivered to the owner of the
\ncompany, Yudi Susanto who was convicted of plotting the killing.<\/p>\n
Army Capt. Kusaeri, formerly chief of the Porong military in
\nSidoarjo, got a nine month jail term. He was the last to be
\nconvicted.<\/p>\n
Legal experts who monitored the trials of the 10 people
\nclosely said the proceedings were filled with loopholes and
\nirregularities to cast doubts about the court verdicts.<\/p>\n
During the proceedings, for instance, several key witnesses
\nwent missing mysteriously. And more recently, Captain Kusaeri
\nrejected the testimony by co-defendants which would have been
\ncertain to acquit him.<\/p>\n
\"It's strange. He confessed to being guilty of the charges and
\nrejected all the testimony which could have benefited him. Now
\nthat's weird, a defendant rejecting testimony which could have
\nset him free?\" Surabaya-based lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, who
\ndefended Yudi Susanto, said.<\/p>\n
The military tribunal, in finding Kusaeri guilty, said he
\nshould have detected that a murder plan was underway and reported
\nit to his superiors.<\/p>\n
Duress<\/p>\n
During the trials, all nine civilians retracted their
\nincriminating statements made before investigators, saying they
\nwere made under duress.<\/p>\n
Some said their genitals were given electric shocks or that
\nthey were forced to drink urine. One suspect said he had his toes
\nplaced under the leg of a chair where his investigator
\nsubsequently sat; another said he was forced to mop the floor
\nwith his tongue.<\/p>\n
\"Look, a businessman was asked to lick the floor. They (the
\ninvestigators) should have been tried because they had broken the
\nlaw. If we let such practices go unchallenged, they will surely
\nproceed with such practices,\" Arist Merdeka Sirait, a labor
\nactivist said.<\/p>\n
\"Now the court has been torn to pieces because certain parties
\ncould play with it. And I am very disappointed with our judicial
\nsystem,\" he continued.<\/p>\n
The Surabaya and Sidoarjo courts which tried the Marsinah's
\nmurder case based their decisions to convict the defendants on
\ntheir written confessions and completely ignored the oral
\ntestimony given in court.<\/p>\n
The allegations of torture drew the attention of the National
\nCommission on Human Rights which instantly formed a fact finding
\nteam to investigate. The Commission said it found evidence of
\nrights violations against the defendants.<\/p>\n
Marzuki however pointed out that the Criminal Code does not
\nsay anything about confessions made under duress.<\/p>\n
\"Everything returns to the autonomy of the judges,\" Marzuki
\nsaid. \"It's possible that public opinion will change, from human
\nright abuses in the investigating level, into unfair trial.\"<\/p>\n
The nine civilians still have a chance of reprieve, if not a
\nthe higher court hearing, the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\"I sincerely hope that the judges in the higher courts will
\nconsider all the facts,\" Luhut said.<\/p>\n
He noted that the Supreme Courts have recently shown
\nwillingness to differ from the government in its rulings, most
\nnotably its decision on the Kedungombo land dispute which
\noverruled the government.<\/p>\n
The All Indonesian Workers Association (SPSI) meanwhile
\ndeclined to be drawn into the legal wrangle over the Marsinah's
\nmurder case, saying that the main thing now is to put this in the
\npast, and for both employers and workers to work towards
\nharmonious industrial relations.<\/p>\n
\"We simply hope that there will be no repetition of the
\nhardships which Marsinah had to endure,\" said SPSI Secretary
\nGeneral Bomer Pasaribu.<\/p>\n
Marsinah was posthumously named as a workers' heroine by the
\nSPSI, and the day her mutilated body was found, on May 8, was
\ndeclared as Workers Solidarity Day.<\/p>\n
Marsinah was also named as the recipient of last year's Yap
\nThiam Hien Human Rights Award.<\/p>",
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