11 soldiers arrested for murder

11 soldiers arrested for murder

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces said on Monday that it
arrested 11 soldiers for torturing to death four alleged
separatist rebels in Aceh on Saturday, while condemnation of the
brutality came strong and fast.

Lilawangsa Military Commander Col. Johnny Wahab told The
Jakarta Post from the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe that the
local military police were still questioning 19 other troops over
their alleged involvement in the deaths and in the torture of 21
other civilians.

"These (troops) allowed their emotions to run free... they
committed an evil and savage act," Johnny said, admitting the
latest incident would further tarnish the image of the Armed
Forces (ABRI).

Johnny said the 25 victims were among 40 people detained by
police and troops in the Wibawa Operation's raid on alleged
separatist targets in the village of Kandang, some two kilometers
south of Lhokseumawe, in an attempt to capture Acehnese
separatist leader Ahmad Kandang on Saturday.

"The 21 other (victims) suffered injuries, including two who
are still in comas. They were beaten with bare hands, shoes and
other objects," Johnny said.

Earlier reports said that the troops tortured the Acehnese,
who were being detained in the building of the local chapter of
the Indonesian Youth Committee, when the military police who were
guarding the detainees left for their evening prayers.

Johnny said the troops allegedly involved in the torture were
from Battalion 111, Battalion 113 Jayasakti, the Guided Missile
Detachment and the Lilawangsa Military Command.

Local residents and human rights activists said that most of
the human rights violations which occurred during a decade-long
military operation to quash the separatist movement in the
province took place in North Aceh, East Aceh and the Pidie
regencies, which all fell under the supervision of the Lilawangsa
Military Command.

Prior to Saturday's incident, military raids on alleged
separatist targets in North Aceh on Jan. 3 claimed at least 11
lives, with 32 more people being injured.

The military has said that Ahmad was hiding in the village of
Kandang under the protection of the villagers.

The military accused Ahmad, who reportedly managed to flee the
village on Saturday, of being behind the killing of seven off-
duty soldiers in Lhok Nibung and the kidnapping of two marines in
the North Aceh district of Muara Dua last month.

Meanwhile, Munir, from the independent Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence, condemned the incident on Monday
saying that it would only open old wounds for the Acehnese.

"The increasing number of civilians who have been killed in
the last 10 days shows that the (Wibawa) operation is not a
solution to the Aceh question."

"The operation only causes new problems for the people, opens
old wounds and revives the potential for the kind of state-
sanctioned violence which overwhelmed Aceh during the military
operations," Munir stated.

Munir reiterated that the Wibawa Operation must be halted to
avoid further violence in the province.

"ABRI must find more democratic steps to solve the existing
problems in Aceh," he said.

Human rights activists have said that the current outbreak of
violence in the province was due to past human rights violations
which remain unresolved.

The activists have demanded that the alleged perpetrators of
human rights violations be put on trial.

ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto has so far only expressed his
apologies for military atrocities in the province, saying that
they had "exceeded acceptable norms".

"ABRI's current violence against the Acehnese have made people
angry... ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto's claim that the killing
of the seven soldiers was a brutal and gross violation of human
rights was an exaggeration; that was nothing compared to the
military atrocities committed in the past nine years in Aceh,"
Ruslan, a member of Student Solidarity for Aceh, said on Monday.

Members of the National Commission on Human Rights, who just
returned from the province on Saturday, said that the military
operations killed at least 781 people and caused thousands more
to suffer.

Munir also said on Monday that the Lhok Nibung incident might
have been fabricated by ABRI to create unrest, which in turn
would justify the military's strong-presence in the troubled
province.

"It is strange that ABRI announced that seven off-duty
soldiers were killed even though they had not been able to
recover the bodies," Munir said, referring to ABRI spokesman Maj.
Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif's announcement on Dec. 29.

The military said that patrols had so far recovered the bodies
of six of the soldiers. (byg)