Pranowo rejects rights charge<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Defense lawyers for former Jakarta military police chief Maj.
\nGen. (ret) Pranowo asked the ad hoc rights tribunal for the
\nTanjung Priok massacre to reject the prosecutors' indictment
\nagainst him on Tuesday, saying it lacked legal merit.<\/p>\n
Pranowo is charged with the unlawful arrest of up to 169
\ncivilians, including Muslim politician A.M. Fatwa, and of
\ndetaining them at Military Police Headquarters on Jl. Sultan
\nAgung, Central Jakarta, without warrants.<\/p>\n
According to Yan Juanda Saputra, one of the defense lawyers,
\nthe indictment was absurd because it failed to disclose the names
\nof Pranowo's subordinates for whom he was allegedly responsible.<\/p>\n
\"The indictment does not specifically reveal the names of
\nPranowo's subordinates who allegedly tortured the civilians who
\nwere at the time being detained at the Military Police
\nHeadquarters since Sept. 13, 1984.<\/p>\n
\"Moreover, prosecutors cannot blame my client for violence
\nendured by the civilians when they were being detained at another
\nmilitary detention center in Cimanggis, Bogor regency, West Java,
\nbecause it was the head of the center who was supposedly
\nresponsible for the alleged brutality,\" Juanda told the court
\npresided over by Adriani Nurdin.<\/p>\n
The lawyers also questioned whether or not the court had the
\nright to hear the case, which occurred almost two-decades ago,
\narguing that the country's legal code did not recognize a
\nretroactive principle.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the court could not try the people unless there were
\nregulations that stipulated the violations as crimes, the lawyers
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
According to the prosecutors, the detention period varied from
\none day to 15 days. Pranowo then moved all the detainees to the
\nCimanggis military detention center and kept them there for up to
\nthree months.<\/p>\n
All of the detainees were crammed into one windowless cell and
\nwere deprived contact with their families. Soldiers from the
\nMilitary Police unit also tortured them, causing some to suffer
\nserious injuries, according to the prosecutors' indictment.<\/p>\n
But the lawyers argued that Pranowo \"had just received a
\nrequest from the police to put suspected Tanjung Priok civilians
\nin his custody due to a certain legal consideration.\"<\/p>\n
\"The civilians were charged with subversion, instead of
\nordinary crimes. Therefore, the police, along with the
\nprosecutors from the Attorney General's Office, decided to place
\nthem in military detention.\"<\/p>\n
Prosecutors charged Pranowo with violating Articles 7 and 42
\nof the Human Rights Law No. 26\/2000 on crimes against humanity,
\nwhich carries a minimum jail term of 10 years and a maximum
\npenalty of death.<\/p>\n
The Tanjung Priok killings were reportedly triggered by a
\nmilitary soldier who entered a prayer room (musholla) near the
\nport of Tanjung Priok on Sept. 7, 1984, without obeying certain
\nreligious protocols.<\/p>\n
He went in to tear down posters considered by the government
\nas extremist in nature, but he did not take off his boots, an act
\nregarded to be tantamount to desecration in a Muslim holy place.<\/p>\n
Witnesses alleged the soldier smeared drain water on the walls
\nas well. An outraged group of people then burnt the soldier's
\nmotorcycle. Four people, including the musholla's administrator,
\nwere arrested.<\/p>\n
Five days later, Amir Biki, a local Muslim activist, led some
\n1,500 fellow civilians in a march to the nearby police station to
\nput pressure on authorities to free the four detainees.<\/p>\n
Eyewitnesses said that soldiers opened fire, killing scores of
\nprotesters. Biki was among the dead. Many other demonstrators
\nwere detained and allegedly tortured in connection with the
\ndemonstration.<\/p>\n
There is conflicting information on the number of victims in
\nthe incident. The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
\nHAM) put the death toll at 33, but military authorities said only
\nnine people were killed. Families of the victims, however, claim
\nthat almost 400 Muslim protesters were killed during the
\nincident.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pranowo-rejects-rights-charge-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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