Aceh rights abuse suspect feared kidnapped: Munir
JAKARTA (JP): A human rights group claimed on Tuesday that Lt. Col. Sudjono, a key suspect in a murder case allegedly carried out by soldiers in Aceh, may have been kidnapped to prevent the upcoming trial of the case.
"There is a big possibility that Sudjono might have been kidnapped to prevent him from uncovering the violence in Aceh," coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Munir, told The Jakarta Post.
Sudjono, who has been missing for at least a week, is among 20 military personnel and civilians who were scheduled to stand trial later this month for the alleged shooting of an Islamic boarding school teacher, Tengku Bantaqiah, and dozens of his students in West Aceh last July.
Troops allegedly killed Bantaqiah, his wife, his students and dozens of farmers in an antirebel raid in the remote Beutong area, some 100 kilometers south of Lhokseumawe on July 23.
The military maintains Bantaqiah was a supporter of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the death occurred as a result of an exchange of fire.
A government-sanctioned inquiry last December, however, concluded they were killed by military troops.
The Beutong shooting is among five Aceh cases focused on by the inquiry in its investigation of alleged human rights abuses in the restive province.
Munir said that Sudjono, who is still listed as intelligence chief of the Lhokseumawe-based Lilawangsa Military Command, could have been abducted to eliminate the link to his commanding officers.
"There is also a big possibility that he might have been abducted because as an intelligence officer he is the man who could explain the policy-making process behind a series of incidents of violence in Aceh," Munir said.
The report of the inquiry released last year identified eight military officers suspected of being responsible for the shooting, two of which have the rank of colonel.
However, military police chief Maj. Gen. Djasri Marin said the highest ranking officer likely to be tried in this case was a lieutenant colonel.
Military officials said on Monday that Sudjono disappeared after obtaining permission to go on 30 days leave to his hometown of Cirebon in West Java.
He was due to return to his post over a week ago.
Munir told journalists earlier in the day that Kontras had tried unsuccessfully to confirm Sudjono's whereabouts with his family.
"Several sources in the military told us that the possibility of a lieutenant colonel deserting was too remote ... and his neighbors said (Sudjono) has not been seen in three weeks," he said.
Munir also added that it was unclear whether Sudjono had ever been held in military detention. He asserted that Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo A.S. must explain Sudjono's whereabouts "as part of TNI's commitment to uphold human rights."
Separately, TNI spokesman Air Rear Marshal Graito Usodo dismissed speculation that Sudjono may have been abducted and said Widodo had instructed the military police to find Sudjono.
In Lhokseumawe, the head of the North Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Attorney Association, Yusuf Ismail Pase, also urged the government and security forces to locate Sudjono.
"It's a bad precedence in the attempt to uphold the law while we're just about to start revealing rights cases here," he said, adding that the government must also set up a protection program for other key witnesses.
In a separate development, two school girls were injured when a grenade was thrown by an unidentified man in the Geudong area on Tuesday morning.
Cut Novita Sari and Ayu Pertiwi, both aged 10, were treated at Cut Meutia hospital in Lhoseumawe.
"The attacker was aiming at a military post but the blast hit the two girls who were walking to school," Azhari Makmun, Ayu's father, said. (50/edt/byg/emf)