Activists suing police get their day in court

JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta District Court heard lawsuits yesterday filed by 57 members of Barisan Merah Putih (the Red-and-White Front) against City Police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata over their detention.

The 57 plaintiffs were able to have their cases heard because their detention status had been changed from being under the police to the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office. Another 65 plaintiffs are still in police detention and so were not taken to court.

The 122 plaintiffs were among 157 members of the group arrested on Feb. 15 while marching from the Attorney General's Office in Blok M to the Ministry of Manpower on Jl. Gatot Subroto to protest soaring food prices.

Dozens of relatives, who had begun arriving at the court early in the morning, burst into tears when they saw the 57 plaintiffs arriving at the court at 1:30 p.m.

The relatives were afraid that the trial would not be heard, as happened last week when the police did not release the plaintiffs from detention to attend court.

The plaintiffs asked the court in their statements to rule that their detention was illegal as they did not receive their detention warrants until five days after the arrest.

The people, who are believed to be supporters of ousted Indonesian Democratic Party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, also questioned why the police charged them under Article 5 of Law 5/1963 on political activities.

"We were initially charged under Article 510 of the Criminal Code. Under the article some of my friends were released one day after the arrest. Why did the police change their mind?," Edy Indrajaya, one of the plaintiffs, told the court.

The court was also asked to order the police to release the plaintiffs from detention.

Police, in their statement, said that the plaintiffs and their families received detention warrants one day after the arrest.

The 14 judges assigned to hear the lawsuits adjourned the trials until Monday to hear evidence and the plaintiffs' response to the police's statement.

R.O. Tambunan, of the defense team for Indonesian Democracy (TPDI) which represents the 122 plaintiffs, said he would send a letter of protest to the City Police chief for not allowing the 65 plaintiffs to go to the court.

"It's again disregarding the court's authority. It's the police's obligation to release the detainees since they had received a summons about the trial," Tambunan said.

Tambunan said he met Lt. Col. Bakat Poerwanto at the city police headquarters three days ago to ask the police to allow all the plaintiffs to attend yesterday's trial.

Bakat, deputy chief of the City Police Detectives, said the dossiers of the 65 remaining detainees had been sent to the court, so it was up to the court to release them.

But the deputy head of the court, Djazuli Pranoto, denied this, saying that the court had not received any dossiers.

"We feel that the police tried to halt us and the court," Tambunan said.

He said TPDI lawyers would soon visit National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo to complain about the case. (jun)