Army captain's name will be restored

Army captain's name will be restored

JAKARTA (JP): East Java's military commander has promised to restore the name of a convicted Army officer after serving nine months in jail for being an accomplice to the murder of labor activist Marsinah.

Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo, the chief of the Brawijaya Military Command, said on Tuesday that the guilty verdict passed by the East Java Military Tibunal against Army captain Kusaeri appeared unjust now that the main suspects have all been acquitted.

"It's a pity that he accepted the verdict and did not appeal like the other nine suspects. Had he appealed, he would have been acquitted too," Imam was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

Kusaeri was chief of the military post in Porong, Sidoarjo, in East Java, when Marsinah was killed in May 1993. The military tribunal said that he knew the murder was going to be committed but failed to notify his superiors.

During the trial, the Army captain admitted to meeting with some of the defendants and to giving some of them a lift on his motorcycle. He denied having any prior knowledge of a murder plan.

The tribunal, however, found him guilty and sentenced him to nine months imprisonment. He has since completed his term and is currently working in the Brawijaya command, Antara said without specifying his position.

Maj. Gen. Imam promised to rehabilitate Kusaeri's name now that the main suspects have been cleared of the murder charges.

"I went through his dossier again, and it appears that his only mistake was failing to report to his superiors a meeting that took place at the PT Catur Putra Surya," Imam said referring to the watchmaking company where Marsinah worked.

If that was the only mistake he committed, then his name should be rehabilitated, he said. "If the other nine defendants were acquitted and Kusaeri's conviction remained on record, surely it would raise questions by the public."

Imam stressed that the East Java military would support the police's effort to renew their investigation of Marsinah's murder. "We will give both our moral and material support to the police," he said. (emb)