A dead-or-alive order issued for escaped hitman
Tiarma Siboro and Rendi A. Witular The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
A marine soldier who was sentenced to death for killing a businessman in 2003 has managed to escape for the second time from the military prison in Cibinong, West Java.
Following the prison break, Commander of the Navy's Military Police Commodore Sunarko A.G. issued on Monday an order to capture Suud Rusli, the marine soldier, "dead or alive."
"I have issued an order to rearrest the escapee in any kind of condition. The order has been relayed to all institutions, including the police," Sunarko said.
Confirming the order, TNI Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto asked the Navy's provost "to capture the marine soldier and shoot him if he tries to resist."
"I have asked Navy Chief (Adm. Slamet Subiyanto) about the jailbreak incident. He (Slamet) confirmed it to me. It is now in the hands of the Navy to rearrest him (Suud). If he tries to resist, he can be shot," Endriartono said after attending a Cabinet meeting.
According to the Navy, Suud managed to escape on Sunday night. However, it was not immediately clear how he got out.
"Our (the Navy's) provost is now hunting him down. We will do whatever it takes to get him back so he can serve his sentence," Navy spokesman Commodore A. Malik Yusuf said as quoted by Antara.
The escape on Sunday night was not the first time for Suud, who was found guilty of murder after moonlighting as a hitman in the past.
In May of this year, Suud, along with a Navy companion, Syam Ahmad Sanusi, also managed to escape from a Navy detention center after cutting the iron bars of their cell using a hacksaw.
After nearly three weeks tracking the two fugitives, the Navy nabbed Suud in Malang, East Java.
Syam, however, remains at large.
The two are facing death sentences for the hired assassination of businessman Boedyharto Angsono and his Army Special Forces (Kopassus) bodyguard Second Sgt. Edi Siyep in July 2003. Boedyharto was president of a company called PT Arena Sarana Bakti (Asaba).
The two convicts were also discharged from the military.
The Garrison Military Court had actually set a deadline for the execution of the two when the May escape took place.
Endriartono refused to comment on speculation that the incident had happened "by-design" with some reports speculating that the marine soldier "seemed to have been coached on how to carry out the escape."
There have been similar jailbreaks from military detention in the past. For example, Army soldier, Second Pvt. Agung Wibowo, escaped from his cell at the Jakarta Military Police detention center prior to his questioning in connection with a shooting incident and illegal weapons transactions in September last year. He was apprehended a day later.
The most high-profile jailbreak involving the military took place in 2001, when four suspects with roles in the 2000 Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) bomb attack, all of whom were military men, broke out of Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta. Only one of them was recaptured and he was later sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
The bombing of the JSX building's basement parking lot left 10 people dead.
Military analysts have said the country's judicial system, which provides privileges and impunity for the military, was to blame for jailbreaks involving soldiers. The analysts further suggested that the government and the lawmakers amend legislation on military tribunals to enable the police to investigate crimes involving military personnel and put them on trial in district courts.