'They forced me to confess': Mutiari<\/p>\n
Mutiari, 27, pleaded not guilty but the Sidoarjo district
\ncourt in East Java last year jailed her for seven months for
\ninvolvement in the murder of Marsinah, a labor activist. Mutiari
\nwas the first victim of a miscarriage of justice exposed last
\nweek when the Supreme Court overturned all eight convictions in
\nthe case and released seven people from prison.<\/p>\n
Prior to her incarceration, Mutiari was the head of the
\npersonnel department of PT Catur Putra Surya (CPS), the company
\nfor which Marsinah had also worked before she was killed.<\/p>\n
Following are excerpts from an interview Mutiari gave to the
\nJakarta-based Tiras news magazine this week in which she
\ndescribes her interrogation by the military.<\/p>\n
\"I did not know so much about Marsinah because I had very
\nscarce information about the employees of the production
\ndepartment of the CPS company. On May 5, 1993, a friend of
\nMarsinah's, who was called Mutmainah, got involved in a quarrel
\nwith officers of the regency military command (Kodim) of Sidoarjo
\n(a town southeast of Surabaya where the company is located).<\/p>\n
\"I was informed on that day that several CPS workers had been
\nsummoned to Kodim and that 13 of them had resigned suddenly. The
\ncompany was asked to pay a severance allowance, a very unusual
\npractice. But Busaeri, a CPS employee who gave me the message
\nfrom the management, said it was an order from Kodim.<\/p>\n
\"I really got confused but Pak Yudi Astono, the factory
\nmanager, asked me to calculate the allowance, which ranged from
\nRp 60,000 (US$29.7) to Rp 400,000 each.<\/p>\n
\"Later we went to the military office to pay the allowances to
\nthe leaving workers. I left Kodim at 7.00 p.m.<\/p>\n
\"On May 7, I was informed that six more workers were about to
\nquit their jobs. We went to again to Kodim to do the same job. I
\nwas completely in the dark about the relation between Kodim and
\nPT CPS.<\/p>\n
\"Between May 7 and 10, Marsinah was nowhere to be seen. What I
\nknew was that she and Mutmainah and Nasiah had discussed the
\ndemonstration plan. But Mutmainah was the most outspoken among
\nthem. (She is still employed by PT CPS).<\/p>\n
\"Once, when they were questioned at Kodim, Captain Sugeng
\nthrew an ashtray at her face, causing bleeding.<\/p>\n
\"On May 11, I heard that Marsinah was dead. According to a
\nfriend of hers she was buried a day earlier. After that, police
\nofficers from Nganjuk came every day to question CPS workers.<\/p>\n
\"On Oct. 1, an officer arrived at the factory and arrested two
\nemployees. Before he answered my question about what had happened
\nthe officer dragged me into a waiting armored vehicle.<\/p>\n
\"'You are a graduate of a law school, aren't you?' he asked
\nme. 'You can pour out all you knowledge about law later.'<\/p>\n
\"Ayip, the head of the production section, was also dragged
\nand thrown in front of me. I saw his face bleeding. Me, Ayip, a
\ncompany guard and two other employees were taken to the
\nheadquarters of the Bakorstanasda, the provincial security
\nagency, in Surabaya.<\/p>\n
\"I saw Pak Yudi Susanto, the owner of PT CPS, there. He had
\nclearly been beaten black and blue. 'All of you are bastards,' an
\nofficer shouted repeatedly. At 9 p.m. I was asked to enter a
\nroom, which looked like a luxurious meeting place.<\/p>\n
\"Some people took pictures of me with a small sign board
\nshowing my name. I was treated like a criminal, although an
\nofficer, who looked like the commander of the office, said 'you
\nwill just testify as a witness.' I did not understand what kind
\nof witness I would be.<\/p>\n
\"But the officer said that I would testify about the meeting
\non May 5 in which a plan to murder Marsinah had been discussed. I
\nwas shocked. I told him that there had never been such a meeting.<\/p>\n
\"Some officers ordered me to confess and started beating me.
\nThen Widayat, CPS driver, entered bringing a diagram of a meeting
\nroom. Widayat looked exhausted and weak. He told the officer that
\nit was a meeting discussing the plan to murder Marsinah.<\/p>\n
\"Widayat also pointed out a chair which he claimed was my
\nseat. I tried to deny the accusation. 'By God, it's not true,' I
\nsaid. I said I was ready to be killed if it was true.<\/p>\n
\"Then Captain Kusaeri, commander of the Porong military
\noffice, was brought in. He was in military uniform but strangely
\nwithout any insignia. He said he did not know anything about the
\ncase. The officer beat him every time he said 'no' to charges of
\ninvolvement in the case.<\/p>\n
\"I kept saying 'no.' An officer told me that if I wanted to
\nconfess that I was involved I would be freed soon.<\/p>\n
In the evening, Brig. Gen. Farid Zaenuddin, then chief of
\nstaff of the East Java Military Command, came to urge me to do
\nthe same thing.<\/p>\n
\"I was not allowed to sleep for three nights during the
\ninterrogation, which was marked by repeated orders that I be
\ntortured with electric shocks. But it was just to scare me.<\/p>\n
\"I defended my innocence and said that I was not afraid even
\nif I had to face death. Altogether I was interrogated for 14
\ndays.<\/p>\n
\"On the evening of Oct. 14, 1993, the officer produced a
\nwarrant. Five days later another officer told me that he would
\ntake me home after my evening prayers. But later I found myself
\nat the police office. I cried and resisted the arrest.<\/p>\n
\"In November 1993, my trial started. In the waiting room
\nearlier in the day the prosecutor and the judge harassed me by
\nsaying 'You can do nothing but confess. You are sure to be
\ndefeated.' I thought I might be defeated in front of human beings
\nbut not before God Almighty.<\/p>\n
\"On March 10, 1994, the Sidoarjo district court sentenced me
\nto seven months in jail for what it said was my involvement in
\nthe Marsinah case.\" (tis)<\/p>\n
No proof -- Page 2<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/they-forced-me-to-confess-mutiari-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }