Accused killer declares his innocence

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The man accused of killing journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin insisted he was innocent and refused to continue with a murder reconstruction the police staged Monday.

Dwi Sumaji, the accused, said he had never set foot in the journalist's home in Bantul, south of Yogyakarta, and could not therefore "enact" the killing as police ordered him to do.

During the reconstruction that began at 10:30 p.m., Monday night, safeguarded by some 1,000 security officers, police officers tried to make the accused enact a number of possible scenarios of the assault that took place on Aug. 13. After several tries, Dwi balked.

"I don't even know Syafruddin, I've never set foot in his house, I swear by the name of Allah," Dwi cried, running back to the police car.

Police accused Eko Widiyanto, one of the suspect's lawyers from the Legal Aid Institute, of disrupting the reconstruction process. But Djufri Taufik, another of Dwi's lawyers, accused police officers of "commanding Dwi to do everything" from the moment he stepped out of the police car.

Police arrested Dwi, a driver at a local advertising firm, on Oct. 21, on suspicion of killing Fuad. The journalist, better known as Udin, died three days after an attack on him without regaining consciousness.

Udin was well known for his critical reporting on the Yogyakarta and Bantul regency administration policies. His death received wide media coverage because of a number of reported oddities in the police investigation procedures, including the manner of arresting Dwi.

Udin's wife, Marsiyem, was not present during the reconstruction because she was too ill. Chief of the Yogyakarta provincial prosecutors office Asrief Adam said the absence of the main witness rendered the procedure incomplete.

He said the reconstruction had not been conducted in accordance with instructions from the prosecutors office.

"The procedure should have involved both the key witness and suspect," Asrief said.

Police dossiers on the accused were rejected last month because they were deemed incomplete. On Dec. 2, the prosecutors office issued an explanation detailing areas still to be completed in the dossiers.

The team of lawyers for Dwi and Marsiyem yesterday said the prosecutors office should declare the procedure legally invalid. (23/06)