Team finds skeletons in 'killing field'<\/p>\n
By Pandaya<\/p>\n
PIDIE, Aceh (JP): A team from the National Commission on Human
\nRights discovered skeletons from an area adjacent to what locals
\ncall the "killing field", the first indication of atrocities
\ncommitted by the military in Aceh over the past nine years.<\/p>\n
The remains were recovered on Kuala Tari peninsula and in the
\nyard of a mansion in Gleumpang Tiga subdistrict believed to have
\nbeen used by the military as a "concentration camp" from 1990
\nuntil Aug. 18. this year.<\/p>\n
Pidie, about three hours' drive east of the provincial capital
\nBanda Aceh, suffered the heaviest casualties during military
\noperations beginning in 1989 until the area's military operations
\nstatus was lifted on Aug. 7, human rights activists say.<\/p>\n
Most arbitrary arrests, rapes, forced disappearances and
\nkillings allegedly occurred after the Army's Special Force
\n(Kopassus) launched its Red Net Operation in 1991 to suppress the
\nactivities of the separatist Free Aceh Movement, they note.<\/p>\n
"The discovery (of the skeletal remains) has convinced us
\nbeyond doubt that reports on widespread military atrocities over
\nthe past nine years in Aceh are an undisputed fact," commission
\nmember Koesparmono Irsan told reporters.<\/p>\n
Other commission activists taking part in the fact-finding
\nmission were Sugiri, Baharuddiin Lopa and Salim Said. Local
\nactivists and residents used the occasion to showcase their
\nclaims on nine years of unchecked systematic rights abuses.<\/p>\n
Mass graves<\/p>\n
Koesparmono, a retired police general, said the discovery gave
\nenough reason for the commission to believe reports on mass
\ngraves across Aceh, where about 2,000 people were believed to
\nhave been killed between 1989 and 1992.<\/p>\n
On the peninsula, measuring about one kilometer long and 500
\nmeters wide, villagers dug up the remains of two people buried
\nside by side at a depth of less than one meter.<\/p>\n
Police officers and a team of forensic experts in charge said
\nthe gender of the dead and estimated ages were yet to be
\ndetermined.<\/p>\n
Holes in one of the skulls suggest the victim was shot at
\npoint-blank range and the bullet exited from the back of the
\nhead.<\/p>\n
An empty wallet, red underpants, a belt and a black blindfold
\nwere found with the skeletons and in plain sight to commission
\nofficials, local rights activists and thousands of curious locals
\nstreaming to the site under the scorching sun.<\/p>\n
No tears were shed as locals believe the remains were those of
\npeople from other areas.<\/p>\n
Villagers estimate about 80 bodies were buried at the site,
\nmostly at the height of the Red Net Operation between 1991 and
\n1992. At the time the peninsula was declared a restricted area
\nand a night curfew was enforced in the area.<\/p>\n
"At that time, trucks carrying bodies to be buried on the
\npeninsula or just dumped on the streets came and went at night
\nwhile people were too scared to ask what happened," a resident
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Haji Usman, a respected Moslem preacher who was once abducted
\nand tortured, said the two bodies were found and buried there
\nsecretly by local fishermen in 1992.<\/p>\n
"The bodies were found floating at the beach with their arms
\ntied at their backs," he recalled. He claimed he was one of those
\nwho found and buried the bodies.<\/p>\n
The digging up of the grounds of the unoccupied mansion, which
\nlocals call Rumoh Gedong (Mansion), unearthed only smaller,
\nincomplete bits believed to be bone fragments left behind when
\nsoldiers allegedly removed human remains after the alleged
\natrocities were uncovered and sparked an international outcry.<\/p>\n
Fire<\/p>\n
Antara meanwhile reported last night that hundreds of angry
\nresidents set fire to the house only a few hours after the rights
\ncommission team left. The report could not be immediately
\nconfirmed.<\/p>\n
The bones fragments were recovered in separate places on the
\ntwo-hectare property which the military turned into a detention
\ncenter.<\/p>\n
Commission officials touring the mansion, where the
\nelectricity had been disconnected and the elevated main building
\ndivided into small chambers, were overwhelmed by 30 tearful men
\nand women with hair-raising stories about what they saw, heard or
\nexperienced in the mansion.<\/p>\n
A woman in her 20s said in a meeting with commission officials
\nthat she was held and tortured when she visited the mansion to
\nsee her husband, who she said was detained in the mansion without
\ncharges.<\/p>\n
She said she was ordered to strip and was given electric
\nshocks in her genitals.<\/p>\n
Supiyah, 22, reported that she was looking for her father who
\nhad been picked up by soldiers a fortnight ago, and that the
\nauthorities had broken their promise to return him to his family
\non Aug. 18, the first day of Kopassus troop withdrawals.<\/p>\n
Zubaidah Cut, a mother of six, said her husband was abducted
\nby three Kopassus officers on the night of Aug. 8 and was taken
\nto the Rumoh Gedong.<\/p>\n
"A week later a Kopassus officer called our house but refused
\nto let him come home for a while because our baby was dead," she
\nsaid tearfully.<\/p>\n
The fact-finding team will continue with its mission today and
\nvisit the industrial town of Lhok Seumawe.<\/p>\n
The team was established in response to growing reports of
\nhuman rights violations by the military against the people of
\nAceh.<\/p>\n
Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto apologized for the
\natrocities earlier this month, and began withdrawing combat
\ntroops from the province this week.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/team-finds-skeletons-in-killing-field-1447893297",
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