Prosecutors held hostage by anticorruption group<\/p>\n
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang<\/p>\n
Driven by their frustration over the sluggish investigation into
\ncorruption cases, dozens of anticorruption activists took high-
\nranking prosecutors hostage in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
A visiting team of prosecutors from Jakarta and top local
\nprosecutors were held for over two-and-a-half hours in a meeting
\nroom at the East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's Office, but no
\ninjuries were reported.<\/p>\n
The protesters, who wore red headbands, approached the
\ncompound at 1 p.m when a meeting between the Jakarta team and
\nlocal prosecutors was underway. They formed a line in front of
\nthe building to prevent the prosecutors from leaving.<\/p>\n
The 20 security guards who were on duty scuffled with them but
\nwere outnumbered and retreated to the lobby of the building in
\norder to prevent the protesters from entering the meeting room,
\nwhich had been locked from the inside.<\/p>\n
The activists shouted their demands that the prosecutors speed
\nup their investigation into corruption cases, including alleged
\ncorruption cases that involved top officials in Belu, Kupang and
\nAlor regencies. One of the East Nusa Tenggara prosecutors offered
\nto talk with the protesters but his offer was turned down.<\/p>\n
Two hours later, when the activists had relaxed their security
\nand were scattered around the compound, security guards escorted
\nout of the building Achmad Luja, the Attorney General's deputy
\nfor prosecutor's monitoring, and East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's
\nOffice deputy chief Rudi Prajitno. However, the protesters were
\nalerted to the move and prevented the prosecutors from entering
\nthe official car parked outside the building. One of the
\nactivists even took up a position on the car's roof, from where
\nhe threatened the prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Fearing the situation would turn ugly, the security guards
\nescorted the prosecutors to the meeting room and from there, out
\nthe back door. Outside, several plainclothes policeman were
\nready with a car to transport the prosecutors to a safe place.<\/p>\n
The team of prosecutors from the AGO were in East Nusa
\nTenggara to question several local prosecutors who had allegedly
\nextorted local officials involved in a corruption cases.<\/p>",
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