Aceh rights abuse tribunal to continue, judges say

Aceh rights abuse tribunal to continue, judges say

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Judges in the joint military-civilian
tribunal here ruled on Wednesday to proceed with the trial of 24
soldiers and a civilian charged with mass killings in West Aceh
last year.

In their pretrial decision, the panel of five judges, led by
civilian judge Ruslan Dahlan, overruled the defense plea for the
charges to be dropped.

Defense lawyers earlier argued that the soldiers should be
tried in a regular court-martial. They also objected to the
tribunal on the grounds it was not held at the site of the
incident, as ruled by the Criminal Code, and the defendants were
carrying out their superiors' commands.

The soldiers, mostly from the Army Strategic Reserves Command
(Kostrad), and a civilian named Thaleb Amman Suar would face the
death sentence if convicted of the premeditated murder of Islamic
religious teacher Tengku Bantaqiah and no less than 57 of his
students in Beutong Ateuh village.

The Army contended the victims were separatist rebels killed
during a shootout with troops.

After rejecting the defense plea, the judges heard testimony
of the first witness, Lt. Col. Heronimus Guru.

Heronimus, the commander of Kostrad's 328 battalion, jointly
led a team of 215 troops assigned to quell a rebel movement --
allegedly involving Bantaqiah and his followers -- along with the
now missing Lt. Col. Sudjono, then the intelligence chief of the
Lilawangsa Military Command.

Heronimus said he helped arrange a security operation at
Beutong Ateuh village, which the Army suspected was a rebel
hideout.

"Apart from the official notification, we were briefed
directly about the operation at the house of Lilawangsa Military
Commander Col. Syafnil Armen. We were to arrest group of rioters,
Bantaqiah and his followers."

He said that based on the intelligence report, Syafnil said
Bantaqiah had about 300 followers and kept around 100 guns and
various land mines.

Heronimus said the incident started when one of his troops,
Capt. Anton Yuliantoro, was chased by three armed men as soon as
the troops arrived in the village. One or two shots were heard in
the area.

"I ordered Anton as a company commander to stop the shooting.
Later I found that Anton was the one who fired the shots in
defense against the three attackers," Heronimus said.

Scheduled testimony from Nur Farisah and Nur Lia, both wives
of Tengku Bantaqiah, was not heard. Details on their absence from
the hearing were unavailable.

The trial was adjourned until Saturday.

Meanwhile, security operations to quell rebels of the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) continued on Wednesday prior to the visit of
President Abdurrahman Wahid to Langsa in East Aceh on Sunday.

GAM members intercepted a convoy of three Police Mobile
Brigade and Gegana vehicles in the Melayu area of Indrajaya
district, Pidie, at about 2:30 p.m., police said. The rebels
opened fire on the vehicles, but no fatalities were reported.
(50/51/edt)