Activists suing police get their day in court

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)