ABRI urged to probe Marsinah case
ABRI urged to probe Marsinah case
SEMARANG (JP): A human rights campaigner urged the military
yesterday to investigate the allegations that some of its members
may have been involved in the 1993 murder of labor activist
Marsinah.
Muladi, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights,
proposed the establishment of a special council to carry out the
investigation.
It would be similar to the Officers' Honor Council that the
Army formed in February to investigate the killings of East Timor
civilians, said the rector of the Diponegoro University.
The military would be better off sacrificing one or two
members who were involved in the killing of Marsinah rather then
putting its reputation on the line, he added.
Police reopened Marsinah's murder case after the Supreme Court
acquitted all nine main defendants early this month. The East
Java district courts had earlier convicted them of executing the
brutal murder.
Marsinah's badly mutilated body was found on May 9, 1993, only
a few days after she led a workers strike at the watchmaking
company in Sidoarjo, East Java, where she was working.
All nine defendants were executives and security guards of PT
Citra Putra Surya, the watchmaking company.
A tenth suspect, an Army captain, was convicted as an
accessory to the murder. He did not appeal and therefore his
conviction remained. His superiors now plan to restore his name
in light of the acquittal of the main suspects.
The National Police are now helping the East Java Police with
the investigation, but so far they have not announced if they
have any new suspects.
Some legal experts said investigators should look into the
possibility of a local military conspiracy, especially since the
military was involved in handling the company's labor disputes.
Muladi welcomed recent remarks by Army Chief of Staff Gen. R.
Hartono that he would take firm action against any of his members
found to have been involved in the murder.
The National Commission of Human Rights plans to help monitor
the investigation, he added.
Another commission member, Satjipto Rahardjo, said the police
should exclude the nine suspects who were exonerated by the
Supreme Court.
"They cannot become suspects again. They certainly can testify
though," said Satjipto, who is a law professor at Diponegoro
University.
Another law professor at the same university, Soehardjo S.S.,
said one of the lessons the police should learn from this case is
to tread carefully when treating criminal suspects.
"They should not use force to coerce incriminating statements
out of the suspects. It could be fatal," Soehardjo said.
He said police would have saved a lot of time and resources
had they paid attention to the report by the National Commission
on Human Rights issued last year, when the trials of the nine
defendants were still going on. The report suggested that the
authorities might be prosecuting the wrong people.
In Jakarta, Chief Justice Soeryono yesterday said that as far
as he was concerned, the job of the Supreme Court in the Marsinah
case was completed for now with the decision to acquit the nine
main suspects.
It is now up to the police and the prosecution office to bring
in new suspects, Soeryono told reporters after a meeting with
President Soeharto in Bina Graha. (har/emb)