170 W. Kalimantan riot suspects seek legal aid

JAKARTA (JP): One hundred and seventy suspects detained for their alleged role in the recent West Kalimantan ethnic riots sought legal aid yesterday from the local chapter of the Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin), a lawyer said.

Akil Mochtar said the requests for aid were submitted by police and local non-governmental organizations to the association's team of lawyers.

He said about 80 percent of the suspects, detained in the Pontianak police precinct and subprecincts, were Madurese and the rest Dayaks.

"Most of them were arrested when security authorities launched a street operation for illegal weapons in the early weeks of the unrest in February," Akil told The Jakarta Post.

Akil, secretary-general of Ikadin's local chapter, said the charges against the suspects ranged from murder, inciting unrest to carrying weapons.

"Most of them are facing charges of carrying sharp weapons," he said, adding only two suspects were charged with murder.

No details on where and when the suspects were rounded up has come from the authorities, Akil said.

Some were arrested in the worst affected districts of Peniraman, Anjungan and Sanggau, north of Pontianak, Akil said.

He said the association would need a defense team of 20 lawyers, but so far only 13 had volunteered. The local association has about 40 lawyers, Akil said.

"We will contact our colleagues in Jakarta if we desperately need more lawyers, but this is unlikely because not all the suspects will end up on trial", he said.

"It's not easy to prove all the allegations against all the suspects, and not all the legal procedures have been properly carried out," he said.

Akil said the team would provide legal aid and help their clients understand the problems facing them.

"Basically we'll tell them we are not defending them because they are Madurese or Dayaks, but because what they did was against the law," he said, adding that most of their clients were "very ignorant people".

Akil said the legal defense team had lawyers of both Madurese and Dayak descent.

"They will combine the legal approach with social and cultural approaches," he said.

Akil said the trials would be held in Pontianak considering the "uncertain situation and conditions" outside the capital.

Bloody clashes claiming hundreds of lives in West Kalimantan broke out in the hinterland early last month following an attack on a Dayak dormitory in Siantan district by Madurese. (aan)