Arrest of clergyman engineered, witness says
Erick W., The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi
Prof. J. E. Sahetapy, an expert witness in the trial of minister Rinaldy Damanik, told the Palu District Court the police engineered the arrest of the defendant.
"I was the first person to say that the police should be separated from the then Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) during former president Soeharto's tenure. I want the police to be professional, independent and no longer engineer cases. But the police still behave like they did during the New Order, engineering Rev. Damanik's case," he said.
The police have charged Damanik under Law No. 12/1951 on the illegal ownership of weapons. The defendant was arrested on Aug. 17, 2002, as he and a number of other activists were evacuating Christians from Poso, which at the time was experiencing sectarian violence.
The defendant was charged with illegally possessing seven homemade rifles, four pistols and 144 bullets.
Sahetapy, who is also a legislator with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), called on the panel of judges hearing the case, led by I Wayan Somanada, to acquit the defendant of all charges. He claimed the arrest and subsequent interrogation of Damanik violated the Criminal Code.
He said the police's behavior in this case resembled their handling of the 1995 murder of labor activist Marsinah in Sidoarjo, East Java. In that case, several soldiers and executives of the watch factory where Marsinah was employed were acquitted of all charges.
Sahetapy also told the court that he spoke with a soldier who was present at Damanik's arrest who claimed the whole arrest was a setup.
"The soldier told me that the handmade rifles and guns found inside Damanik's car were planted, but I don't want to disclose his identity," he testified.
He also said the defendant could not be said to have been caught red-handed in the possession of illegal firearms because the arrest was not witnessed by the head of the village where the apprehension took place.
Sahetapy called on the defendant's lawyers to draft a report on the case so that he could bring it to National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and Attorney General A. Rachman.
Another expert witness, Dr. George Junus Aditjondro, who has studied the conflict in Poso, testified that the defendant was not involved in any of the violence.
Before this case went to trial the government prosecutor's office in Palu returned the defendant's dossier to the police three times for additional information and to clear up inconsistencies.
The conflict in Poso has left more than 2,000 people dead since 1998. Though the violence has tapered off since the conflicting sides signed a peace agreement in December 21, 2001, thousands of people are still taking refuge outside of the province.