Bureaucracy 'hampers' swift trial on Aceh

Bureaucracy 'hampers' swift trial on Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): A member of the government-sanctioned inquiry
into violence in Aceh said on Monday bureaucratic red tape has
been hampering the swift prosecution of human rights abusers in
the troubled province.

"The military police are ready to start the trial anytime, but
due to calls for an interconnection tribunal involving police and
the Attorney General's Office (in the investigation process),
everything has to be started all over again," Rosita S. Noer,
secretary of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Aceh
violence, told The Jakarta Post.

"Nobody can say when the trial is going to be start because
the Attorney General's Office and the police are scheduled to
visit Aceh this Thursday.

"Everything has to start from day one and this is a big step
backwards," Rosita added.

Rosita and several members of the commission met with senior
military officers earlier on Monday afternoon for what they
described as a "consultative meeting".

The commission recommended last month that five alleged rights
abuses in Aceh be immediately tried in an extraordinary military
tribunal.

The cases in question are: the rape of a woman in Pidie in
1996; the killing of seven people in Idi Cut in February; the
fatal shooting of at least 39 protesters in North Aceh in May;
the tortures between 1997 and 1998 in Rumah Geudong, known to
locals as the slaughter house, in Pidie; and the fatal shootings
in Beutong Ateuh in West Aceh in July of least 65 people,
including Islamic boarding school teacher Tengku Bantaqiah.

Attorney General Marzuki Darusman announced late last month
the latter two cases would be given priority and the cases would
be tried in an interconnection tribunal or a non-military
tribunal.

Civilian politicians have been adamant such cases be tried in
a nonmilitary court.

Military police chief Maj. Gen. Djasri Marin said last week
that 11 military personnel and two civilians were suspects in the
Beutong Ateuh shooting. The most senior among them was a
lieutenant colonel.

Ambush

Meanwhile tension remained high in North Aceh on Monday, as
2,000 residents of Samalanga district flocked to nearby mosques
following an ambush on Sunday by an armed gang in Pulau Baru
village, in which four Elite Police Mobile Brigade policemen were
wounded.

Witnesses claim houses were then torched overnight in apparent
retaliation.

It was reported at least 38 buildings in and around the
village were set ablaze.

M. Djafar, a local leader in Pulau Baru, said hundreds of
terrified residents were still hiding in the woods near the
villages.

"They're afraid to come out. Angry officers are still looking
for those behind Sunday's grenade attack," he said.

North Aceh Police Lt. Col. Syafei Aksal, however, denied on
Monday the allegations that police had torched houses in
retaliation.

"It was probably done by other parties. We will look into the
matter and investigate it," he said.

Separately in Pidie, two civilians, identified as Ridwan M.
Nur, 32, and Sophian A. Basyah, 35, were arrested during a raid
in Garot area, Pidie regency, on Sunday night for alleged
involvement in the kidnapping of two military officers.

According to Pidie Military Command chief Lt. Col. Iskandar
M.S. the two soldiers, Sgt. Syarifuddin from Batee military
subdistrict office and Sgt. Maj. Abdul Karim from Delima military
subdistrict office, were abducted separately on Dec. 8 and Dec.
12.

Syarifuddin was kidnapped in Grung Grung market in Pidie and
Abdul Karim was abducted on his way to his post in Kedai Garot.

"If the two turn out to be innocent, we will release them,"
Iskandar said. (byg/51/edt)