ABRI urged to ensure impartiality in probe

JAKARTA (JP): An international human rights group urged Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto on Monday to involve independent bodies to ensure impartiality in the investigation into missing activists.

"(The) independent bodies should be given power to call appropriate witnesses whether they are the families, victims or members of ABRI," Kerry Brogan of the London-based Amnesty International told a media conference at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute office in Central Jakarta.

Brogan, who last week met Wiranto and the head of Armed Forces Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, said the 11 members of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), who are currently being detained by the military police over the abductions of political activists, should be given the opportunity to be questioned by the independent body.

"It is not appropriate for the military police to be conducting this investigation, it should be an independent body such as Kontras (the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence) or the National Commission on Human Rights.

"That body should be given access to question those people, access to places allegedly used for detention and any places which are related to the... disappearances," added Brogan.

Brogan also urged the prosecution of alleged perpetrators of human rights violations.

"The rights commission has made some very good recommendations but there is no mechanism to ensure that those recommendations lead to the prosecution of the violators and that the victims or the victims' families receive compensation," she said.

Brogan said prosecution was the only way to ensure that rights violations would not recur. "These steps could (help the government) obtain the faith of the people," he said.

Kontras has reported that at least 24 activists have gone missing since April last year. Nine have resurfaced after disappearing for several months.

Military Police Commander Maj. Gen. Syamsu Djalal said on Monday he needed the testimonies of the nine activists in order to facilitate the effort to solve the case.

"It's not true if people say that these main witnesses' presence is no longer useful," he was quoted by Antara as saying on the sideline of a hearing at the House of Representatives.

Two activists -- Andi Arief and Desmond J. Mahesa -- have refused to meet the military police investigators because they believe their public statements have been sufficient.

Wiranto has discharged former Kopassus chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto and removed two senior Kopassus officers from active duty last month for their involvement in the abductions of political activists in addition to arresting the 11 junior Kopassus members. (byg)