AG's office receives Sutiyoso's dossier after two-day delay

AG's office receives Sutiyoso's dossier after two-day delay

Abdul Khalik and Suherdjoko, Jakarta/Semarang

The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office received on Tuesday the last two
dossiers of the July 27 case from National Police headquarters,
including that of Governor Sutiyoso.

The case revolves around the violent takeover of the
headquarters of the then Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) on
July 27 1996, then led by the incumbent President Megawati
Soekarnoputri. The case was recently reopened, raising suspicions
of underlying political motives in connection with the ongoing
presidential election campaign.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman said
that the prosecutor's office had received two dossiers which
included Sutiyoso's name and 11 other suspects.

Sutiyoso was Jakarta military commander at the time of the
incident.

"We received the dossiers at 1 p.m. today. So, all six
dossiers of the 27 July case, which contain a total of 23
suspects, are in the hands of our prosecutors," said Kemas.

Earlier in the day, National Police deputy chief of detectives
Insp. Gen. Dadang Garnida had said that his officers had sent on
Monday all the six dossiers to the prosecutor's office.

"We sent all of them last night at 9:30 p.m. because we don't
want to delay them even for a day," said Dadang.

Kemas said that the first dossier contained 11 names including
Let. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso, the former Jakarta Police chief the
late Insp. Gen. Hamaminata, former Jakarta Military intelligence
assistant chief Col. Haryanto, and chairman of Pancasila Youth
Yorris Raweray.

The second dossier contained four names, namely Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) secretary-general Butu Hutapea, former PDI
deputy treasurer Alex Widya Siregar, and former PDI deputy
secretary-general R. Sihombing.

The prosecutor's office has 14 days to decide whether to bring
the dossiers to the court or return them back to the police.

National Police general crimes division director Brig. Gen.
Aryanto Sutadi said that as the Jakarta Military commander
Sutiyoso was declared a suspect not because he failed to maintain
security and order in his area but because several witnesses saw
him conducting "criminal acts".

"We are not going to charge him for failing to restore order
because that is not a criminal act. We have gathered several
witnesses willing to testify that he violated the Criminal Code,"
said Aryanto without specifying further.

The attack on the PDI headquarters claimed five lives, injured
149 people, and left 23 others missing, according to official
findings.

Earlier, some analysts suggested that the timing of the
investigation was intended to discredit presidential candidate
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Democratic Party. He was the
chief of staff of the city's military command when the incident
occurred. He had been questioned as witness twice in 2000 and
2001.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said in Semarang on
Tuesday that there was no instruction from the President to
reopen the case.

"The case has been investigated by a joint team from the
military, the Attorney General's Office and the police. So, the
police can't decide on their own. It is the authority of the team
to continue investigating the case," said Da'i.

He added that the team would decide whether it was necessary
to summon Susilo.