Tanjung Priok rights tribunal to begin<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After 19 years of waiting, justice seekers may witness the
\nopening of an ad hoc human rights tribunal on the Sept. 12, 1984
\nbloodshed in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Human Rights Court appointed on Thursday a five-
\nmember panel of judges to oversee the hearing, which will be
\npresided over by Andi Samsan Nganro, a career judge from the
\nCentral Jakarta District Court.<\/p>\n
Andi will be assisted by another career judge Binsar Gultom
\nand three non-career judges: Heru Susanto, Amiruddin Abureira and
\nSulaeman Hanif.<\/p>\n
"We're expected to open the hearing next week, but we still
\nneed more time to look at the dossiers," Andi told The Jakarta
\nPost, without mentioning the date of the hearing.<\/p>\n
The court had only received one combined dossier of several
\ndefendants -- out of 14 active and retired military officers
\ndeclared suspects in the shooting of anti-government protesters
\noutside a mosque in Tanjung Priok area.<\/p>\n
The dossier, according to Andi, is of Col. Sutrisno Mascung
\nand his collaborates -- soldiers of the North Jakarta Military
\nDistrict, at the time of the tragedy.<\/p>\n
The highest ranked military officer included in the list of
\nsuspects is the current commander of the Army's Special Forces
\n(Kopassus), Maj. Gen. Sriyanto Muntrasan, who was Sutrisno's
\nsuperior as the head of the military district's operational unit
\nat the time.<\/p>\n
However, L.B. Moerdani and Try Sutrisno -- Indonesian Military
\ncommander and Jakarta Military chief respectively at the time of
\nthe bloodshed -- were absent from the list. The absence was
\nconspicuous to human rights observers.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office had worked on the investigation
\nof the case since 2000, but later suspended it for over a year
\nfollowing an islah (Islamic peace pact) made between military
\nofficers, led by Try Sutrisno, and relatives of the victims.<\/p>\n
But the unrelenting protest of other victims excluded from the
\npeace pact, and the demands of rights activists, forced
\nprosecutors to resume investigations.<\/p>\n
Relatives of the victims say the incident claimed more than
\n400 lives, while the military claims only 18 people were killed.<\/p>\n
The investigation by the National Commission on Human Rights
\n(Komnas HAM) found that 33 were killed -- including 14 people
\nwhose identities remain unknown -- and 55 were injured.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tanjung-priok-rights-tribunal-to-begin-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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