More clues found in Marsinah murder probe<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Police have collected several more clues in
\ntheir investigation of the murder of labor activist Marsinah,
\nalthough they say it may take them some considerable time to pin
\ndown the murderer or murderers.<\/p>\n
Having announced last week that they had identified two or
\nthree new suspects, police now say they have found blood traces
\nat a military post; a discovery that could open up a new frontier
\nin their investigation.<\/p>\n
The investigators earlier focused their search for clues in
\nand around the house of businessman Yudi Susanto, prompting
\ncriticisms that they were not serious about the investigation.<\/p>\n
Yudi, Marsinah's employer at the time of her death, has been
\nexonerated of murder by the Supreme Court. The exoneration led to
\nthe release of eight others who had also been imprisoned in
\nrelation to the brutal murder.<\/p>\n
This week police exhumed Marsinah's body, which had been
\nburied in her home village in Nganjuk. They plan to fly the
\ncorpse to Jakarta for further medical examination.<\/p>\n
Marsinah's badly mutilated body was found in an abandoned
\nshack in Nganjuk, East Java, in May last year, only a few days
\nafter she led a workers' strike at the watchmaking company owned
\nby Yudi.<\/p>\n
Besides Yudi, eight management staff and security guards of
\nthe company were convicted by the court of first instance in
\nSurabaya. In May the Supreme Court overturned all the
\nconvictions, saying that the evidence presented in the lower
\ncourt did not support the guilty findings.<\/p>\n
Police have since reopened the murder investigation.<\/p>\n
Leading Surabaya criminal lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi, who
\ndefended Yudi Susanto, has been asked by the police to help with
\nthe investigation.<\/p>\n
Yesterday Trimoelja lauded the police for their conduct of the
\nnew investigation.<\/p>\n
\"I notice that the police have followed legal procedures in
\nre-investigating the Marsinah murder case,\" said Trimoelja, who
\nduring his defense of Yudi was very critical about the way in
\nwhich the authorities had dealt with his client.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said he had been invited to take part in police
\nvisits to the Sidoarjo District Military Command, the Porong
\nMilitary Post in Sidoarjo and Yudi's house in Surabaya, as part
\nof the new police investigation.<\/p>\n
Traces<\/p>\n
\"The police found traces of blood in those three places,\" he
\nsaid, adding, however, that police could not determine to whom
\nthe blood belonged. \"We'll have to wait for the police DNA
\n(deoxyribonucleic acid) test on the blood samples,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The East Java military has also been conducting its own
\ninvestigation, in response to allegations that some of its
\nofficers were involved in the labor dispute at the watchmaking
\ncompany.<\/p>\n
Trimoelja said he had not represented Yudi since his client's
\nexoneration of the murder charge.<\/p>\n
\"I was invited by the police to observe the new investigation
\nprobably because I have been the most outspoken lawyer in
\ncriticizing the police procedures so far,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said that, by law, Yudi Susanto could not be
\nprosecuted again for a crime of which he had already been
\nacquitted.<\/p>\n
While not naming anyone in particular, the police have
\nindicated that some of those who were earlier exonerated may have
\nbeen involved in the murder after all.<\/p>\n
Police say that, if that turns out to be the case, they plan
\nto file for a review of the case by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
But Trimoelja said that was impossible.<\/p>\n
\"According to article 263 of the Criminal Code Procedures,
\nonly a convict or his heirs can file for a review,\" he said.
\n(imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/more-clues-found-in-marsinah-murder-probe-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}