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)