Police call for more time in murder probe<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Police called yesterday for more time and a
\n\"better climate\" to continue their investigations into the August
\nslaying of Yogyakarta-based journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafrudin.<\/p>\n
Brig. Gen. Rusdihardjo, head of the National Police Crime
\nInvestigation Directorate, said here yesterday that police would
\nfollow up all suggestions from external parties in their
\ninvestigation.<\/p>\n
\"But please give us time and a 'cool climate' to investigate
\nthe case,\" he said after attending the opening of the five-day
\nInternational Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations
\n(IFNGO) conference.<\/p>\n
Rusdihardjo was responding to queries about the decision of
\nYogyakarta authorities last weekend to cancel the long-awaited
\nreconstruction of the journalist's murder. This cancellation
\nreportedly surprised National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo.<\/p>\n
The reconstruction was scheduled for 10:30 p.m. on Friday. It
\nwas canceled without explanation at one o'clock the same
\nafternoon. A lawyer for the murder suspect has said the police
\ntold him and his client, Dwi Sumaji, in the afternoon that the
\nreconstruction was called off \"for one reason or other\".<\/p>\n
They said the unexplained postponement supported their
\nsuspicions that police are uncertain whether Sumaji will be able
\nto re-enact the crime because he did not do it.<\/p>\n
Dibyo said he was of the opinion that the reconstruction would
\nhave to be held and should take public input into account.<\/p>\n
The authorities planned the reconstruction only several days
\nafter their dossiers on Sumaji were rejected by prosecutors on
\nthe grounds that the evidence was too weak.<\/p>\n
Rusdihardjo argued yesterday that the police called off the
\nreconstruction because the provincial prosecutors office did not
\nspecifically ask for one to be held.<\/p>\n
Rusdihardjo also said that police want the case to be solved
\nas soon as possible. \"All developments in relation to the case
\nreach the public so fast that police sometimes feel
\noverwhelmed...\" he said.<\/p>\n
He admitted that Yogyakarta police jumped too fast to
\nconclusions regarding the suspected murderer. \"The investigation
\nhasn't yet been completed, but they have already drawn
\nconclusions and submitted the dossiers to the prosecutors,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, the provincial prosecutors office issued a
\ndetailed explanation yesterday about which areas in the dossiers
\nthey deemed incomplete. Head of the prosecutors' office Asrief
\nAdam said police now should be able to improve their documents.<\/p>\n
\"I can't explain in detail because the document is
\nconfidential,\" he said but revealed that the incomplete areas
\nwere related to the testimonies of the suspected killer and the
\nwitnesses, and the evidence.<\/p>\n
One of the lawyers for Dwi Sumaji, said he doubted police
\ncould improve the dossiers because his client, still in police
\ndetention, was no longer being questioned.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, Bambang W. Soeharto of the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights reaffirmed the body's stance that there had been
\nviolations of rights in the manner of Dwi's arrest.<\/p>\n
\"We believe violations occurred in the way the suspect was
\narrested, the way police collected evidence..and there was mental
\ntorture as well,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Bambang said the rights commission believed that the police
\nwould eventually solve the murder in ways which would abide by
\nthe law. (23\/swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-call-for-more-time-in-murder-probe-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}