112 army, 13 police personnel charged in Madiun clash

112 army, 13 police personnel charged in Madiun clash

Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

The joint team set up to investigate September's army-police
clash in Madiun, in which three teenagers were killed, has
charged 112 army and 13 police personnel as suspects, and they
will now be brought to court, East Java Military Police chief
Col. Soejono said here on Wednesday.

Speaking to five members of House of Representatives (DPR)
Commission I, Soejono said that 207 people consisting of military
and police personnel, students and local residents, had been
questioned.

"We questioned 35 police officers before deciding that 13 of
them could formally be charged as suspects," he said.

"The charges against the 125 suspects differ. We have prepared
nine indictments against them and the files have been grouped
together according to the acts they committed."

The indictments covered the initial incident at a gas station
up to the fatal shooting of three high school students, Soejono
said. "We have to separate the indictments very clearly so as to
make the legal proceedings easier."

On Sept. 15, fighting erupted between members of the Army
Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad)'s 501st Airborne Infantry
Battalion and Madiun Police officers. The clashes, which claimed
three teenagers' lives, flared up over a small dispute between
members of the two organizations.

Kostrad chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu then discharged the
commander of Kostrad's 501st Airborne Infantry Battalion, Maj.
Komistin Hadirin, and his deputy Maj. Nurcholid, as well as 20
members of the battalion, over the deadly attack on Madiun Police
station and several other police stations at midnight on
Saturday.

Madiun Police precinct chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eddy Hariyanto was
also discharged three days later.

East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutanto, who attended
Wednesday's hearing with the House members, said that seven AK
101 rifles, seven SKS rifles and five pistols had been seized as
evidence. "The investigators also found 23 cartridge cases."
Unfortunately, the investigators did not recover a single
projectile from the bodies of the dead victims."

"The police officers who became involved in the clash were
those who were upset following the seizure of one SKS rifle and
four pistols by members of the 501st Infantry Battalion. The
soldiers had also threatened to attack them soon."

"Our men, including the Mobile Brigade, then readied
themselves to respond to the threat. They were in a life or death
situation and had to defend their headquarters. It was in these
circumstances that a large group of students on motorbikes passed
by. Our men thought they were members of the Infantry Battalion
who were going to attack them. The electricity was also out that
night," Sutanto explained.

"But we recovered projectiles from the bodies of three
survivors, Agung, Edwin and Dimas, while they were being treated
at the Saiful Anwar Hospital in Malang. The projectiles are being
examined by the National Police Headquarters Laboratory in
Jakarta. We hope that the projectiles will determine who shot the
students."

Permadi, who led the House team, said that the House expected
a joint tribunal be set up. "We don't want such a fatal incident
to happen again in the future."