Another suspected killer dies in police custody
Another suspected killer dies in police custody
JAKARTA (JP): Another detainee believed to have taken part in the killing of a police officer in Blok M, South Jakarta, in March died on Monday, a week after he was transferred to Kramatjati police hospital in East Jakarta.
City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko confirmed that the man had died but declined to comment further.
The detainee, Frenki Tulehu, was arrested by South Jakarta Police in March on suspicion that he was one of the street hoodlums, popularly knows as preman, who killed First Lieutenant Budi Prasetya in the Blok M shopping area.
South Jakarta District Police Chief Lt. Col. Silvanus Y. Wenas said on Wednesday that Frenki had been in a state of depression and had refused food for a week prior to his death.
Police officers had tried to persuade him to eat, but to no avail, Wenas said. He said the detainee had later been fed intravenously.
Wenas denied suggestions that Frenki died after being severely tortured by police officers. "There is no sign of torture. Look at the results of the post mortem examination later," he said.
Asked whether there had been a complaint from Frenki's family regarding his death, Wenas replied: "So far we haven't received any complaint about Frenki's death from his relatives."
Lieutenant Budi and Capt. Arman Depari, both students of Jakarta's prestigious Police College, were attacked by a group of drunken street hoodlums and Budi incurred a fatal stab wound to the abdomen.
One day after the incident police arrested four of ten suspects and seized a jacket and a shirt stained with blood.
Another suspect, named Mario Taihutu, was shot dead by police at Gunung Putri in Bogor, four days after the incident. Police claimed that Mario was shot as he tried to escape from police after being asked for the whereabouts of the other suspects.
All of the suspects were arrested in different locations around the city.
Police now say Frenki was the one who stabbed Budi and Mario was the one who started the incident that culminated in the policeman's death.
The other eight suspects, currently still in the custody of the South Jakarta police, have been identified as Reza Lawalatta, Jimiko Danyanto alias Miko, James Rudi Lasatira, Idris Tuarita, Steve, Robinson, Kifli, and Amerson.
South Jakarta police completed the dossiers on the nine suspects early last month, but the suspects are yet to be brought before a court.
The Budi's death sparked a war against hoodlums. A massive operation was carried out jointly by police and the military nationwide in which thousands of suspected hoodlums were arrested.
Police officers have maintained that the operation is not revenge, saying it is among their routine operations against all criminals. (29)