Police allegation of Kopassus' role in Theys' murder not final<\/p>\n
Yogita Tahil Ramani and Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Police allegations that an elite Armed force's unit was behind
\nthe murder of pro-independence Papua Presidium Council (PDP)
\nChairman Theys Hiyo Eluway are not official yet, according to
\nNational Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.<\/p>\n
\"This is not the final result -- we have not said there is a
\ncertain connection,\" between the killing, and the Army's special
\nforce (Kopassus), he said here on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Da'i was responding to a statement issued Tuesday by Irian
\nJaya Provincial Police Chief Made Mangku Pastika that there were
\nindications Kopassus's Tribuana Unit, active in the Irian Jaya
\ncapital of Jayapura, was involved in the case.<\/p>\n
The provincial police's probe into the case has been put on
\nindefinite hold by officials who have said they have run out of
\nleads to investigate.<\/p>\n
So far, police officials have questioned Kopassus members, but
\ncould not continue with that line of inquiry, as they were not
\noperating under the jurisdiction of the civilian law.<\/p>\n
Da'i said the police have yet to make a firm comparison
\nbetween the results of their investigation, and the one carried
\nout by Army officials.<\/p>\n
Da'i's comments were a crushing blow to widespread feelings
\nthat, at last, the police were making important headway towards
\nsolving the case.<\/p>\n
Many Papuans, as people from Irian Jaya are known, have run
\nout of patience with what they say is the painfully slow pace of
\nthe investigation into Theys' murder.<\/p>\n
It is most likely that he was assassinated for political
\nreasons, add Papuans, who are calling for the establishment an
\nindependent investigating team with credible members.<\/p>\n
TNI Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto stressed on
\nWednesday that if there were indeed Kopassus members guilty of
\nThey's murder, he would make sure that they would be tried under
\nmilitary law.<\/p>\n
\"Whoever is guilty of this crime, whether that person is a
\nsoldier or not, he will be answer to the law ... regardless of
\nhis rank,\" Endriartono said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Made had earlier offered 24-hour police protection for anyone
\nwilling to testify to evidence of Kopassus members' complicity in
\nthe killing.<\/p>\n
Frustration has been mounting over the matter, however,
\nparticularly after an independent team formed to probe Theys'
\ndeath was forced to await a presidential decree before it could
\nbegin work.<\/p>\n
The draft of the decree, according to State\/Cabinet Secretary
\nBambang Kesowo, is currently being reviewed at the Office of the
\nCoordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs.<\/p>\n
\"After the review, only then can it be signed by the
\nPresident,\" Bambang told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Theys was found dead in his car on Nov. 11 last year, one day
\nafter he was abducted by an unidentified group on his way home to
\nSentani, around 40 kilometers outside the provincial capital of
\nJayapura.<\/p>\n
He had been attending a Heroes' Day celebration hosted by the
\nlocal Kopassus unit near Jayapura. Autopsy reports showed that he
\ndied from suffocation.<\/p>\n
Theys' driver, Aristoteles Masoka, who escaped and reported
\nthe abduction, has since disappeared.<\/p>\n
Six witnesses who have been under police protection have
\ntestified to the police that they accompanied Aristoteles to
\nreport the abduction to the Kopassus unit but, later, left him
\nthere after a long wait outside the military compound.<\/p>",
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