Aceh trial opens under tight security

Aceh trial opens under tight security

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Defendants in the joint civilian-
military trial which opened here on Wednesday are facing the
death penalty for alleged mass killings in West Aceh last year.

The 90-minute hearing heard a team of prosecutors led by
Nuraini AS charge the 25 defendants, 24 military personnel and a
civilian with the premeditated murder of noted Muslim leader
Tengku Bantaqiah and no less than 57 of his followers in remote
Beutong Ateuh village on July 23.

Earlier report from the government-sanctioned independent
inquiry team said Bantaqiah and 56 of his students were killed.

The capital offense carries the maximum penalty of death,
according to the Criminal Code.

"A military operation in Beutong Ateuh village was conducted
following a tip from civilian defendant Thaleb Amman Suar that
Tengku Bantaqiah and his followers possessed 100 guns and 300
armed men," Nuraini said while reading the 38-page indictment.

Based on the report, Nuraini said, Lilawangsa Military
Commander Col. Syafnil Armen sent a telegram dated July 15, 1999
to West Aceh's infantry commander and intelligence chief of
Lilawangsa Military Command Lt. Col. Sudjono which read: "locate
and arrest GPK (armed rioters) and their followers, dead or
alive."

Sudjono, the key suspect, has been declared missing since
November last year.

A team consisting of 215 personnel was forged following
Syafnil's order, jointly led by Lt. Col. Heronimus Guru, the
commander of Kostrad's 328 battalion and operations supervisor
Sudjono, the prosecutor remarked.

On July 23, 1999, the troops arrived at the Babul Mukaromah
Islamic boarding school in Beutong Ateuh, a remote village under
the Singgah Mata mountain, 80 kilometers from Meulaboh, the
capital of West Aceh regency.

"The troops painted their faces green. Lt. Col. Sudjono said
'So this is Bantaqiah' and then he spoke over the radio to
Heronimus, saying 'How about it, brother? Let's kill them all'.
But Heronimus did not reply to the message," Nuraini said.

The indictment said that Capt. Anton Yuliantoro, the highest
ranked to stand trial, ordered a search on Bantaqiah and his
followers' identity cards, stripped and left them wearing only
underwear.

"One of the Bantaqiah pupils tried to grab a walkie talkie and
a soldier hit him. That was when Bantaqiah screamed 'Allahu
Akbar' (God is Great) and a troop member replied 'Go' and the
soldiers started to spray bullets at the people," the prosecutor
said.

She said Bantaqiah and 33 of his students died instantly,
while 23 others were wounded and eventually shot to death upon
Sudjono's order after being taken to a truck.

A number of bodies were buried near the site of the incident
while many others were thrown into a ravine, Nuraini said.

Among the court attendants were State Minister of Human Rights
Affairs Hasballah M. Saad, chief of the independent commission of
inquiry into human rights abuses (KPP HAM) in Aceh Amran Zamzami
and local military commander Col. Syarifuddin Tippe.

Security was tight during the opening hearing, with all the
defendants transported at 8:30 a.m. to the court in a convoy of
armored cars from a military police detention building situated
about one kilometer from the courthouse.

Half of the military suspects are ranked private.

The trial was adjourned until Saturday.

Outside the courtroom, a student protester was reportedly
injured during a clash with security personnel who prevented
protesters from entering the court compound.

About 50 students rallied outside the courthouse to reject the
trial, saying it only prosecuted low-ranking soldiers and not the
masterminds.

Some 1,000 locals gathered outside the courtroom, listening to
the session through loudspeakers.

Banda Aceh was calm on Wednesday after an overnight grenade
blast at the Aceh Besar Police station, some three kilometers
northeast of the courthouse. Police said two men speeding on a
motorbike tossed the hand grenade.

Two grenade explosions also hit the Exxon-Oil gas field late
on Tuesday but no fatalities were reported, North Aceh Police
chief Lt. Col. Syafei Aksal said. (50/51/edt)