Rights tribunal judges will be impartial, Bagir says<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Bagir Manan said on Monday that, to ensure
\nimpartiality, no police or military personnel would sit on the
\npanel of judges for the ad hoc human rights tribunal.<\/p>\n
\"God willing, we will not include any military or police
\npersonnel as non-career judges because they harbor personal
\ninterests. I truly hope that without them the career and non-
\ncareer judges on the tribunal will be impartial,\" Bagir said.<\/p>\n
Bagir met with members of the National Commission on Human
\nRights (Komnas HAM) and officials of the Ministry of Justice and
\nHuman Rights at his office.<\/p>\n
They discussed preparations for the ad hoc tribunal that will
\ntry human rights violations in East Timor between April and
\nSeptember 1999 and the Tanjung Priok massacre of September 1984.
\nTrials are expected to start in December.<\/p>\n
\"We expect that in 10 days the team in charge of establishing
\nthe tribunal will have recruited non-career judges, the names of
\nwhom we will have to announce before they are taken to the
\nPresident for approval,\" Bagir said.<\/p>\n
A Supreme Court source said that the decision not to involve
\npolice and military personnel in the team was taken after a
\nlively debate.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Justice Benyamin Mangkoedilaga, head of the team
\nscreening the judges for both the ad hoc and permanent tribunals,
\nassured that the ad hoc tribunal would commence activities in
\nDecember after already experiencing several delays.<\/p>\n
The permanent tribunal is set to try rights abuses committed
\nafter November 2000.<\/p>\n
\"By November, the team will announce the names of 60 judges,
\nboth career and non-career. They will undergo training on human
\nrights tribunals on Nov. 6,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Most of the non-career judges are selected from among
\nacademics at universities nationwide that have study centers on
\nhuman rights, while others are noted figures whose activities are
\nrelated to rights issues.<\/p>\n
The ad hoc tribunal is being formed to try people suspected of
\nviolating human rights in the 1984 bloodshed at Tanjung Priok,
\nNorth Jakarta, and the 1999 clashes in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Komnas HAM chairman Djoko Soegianto said that the commission
\nwould request a presidential decree for the inclusion of rights
\nabuses in Abepura, Irian Jaya, in the December trials.<\/p>\n
Violence broke out in Abepura on Dec. 27, 2000, in which two
\npolice officers were killed. In subsequent incidents, police
\nattacked three dormitories and detained hundreds of occupants;
\nthree of whom were found dead in detention.<\/p>",
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