Civilian trial demanded for suspects in Theys murder

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The nine military suspects in the murder of pro-independence Papuan leader Theys Hiyo Eluay should be tried in civilian court, instead of a military tribunal, analyst Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and noted rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis said on Friday.

Bringing the nine servicemen to a civilian court would bode well for the principle of equality, they said.

"Trying militarymen before the military tribunal will only pave the way for them to protect the institution from any wrongdoing," Todung said.

The National Military Police recently revealed that nine suspects of Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) members would be tried in a military tribunal next month, instead of a human rights tribunal or a regular civilian court.

Three of the suspects include three middle ranking officers, Lt. Col. Hartomo, Maj. Doni Hutabarat and Capt. Rionaldo. The other six are non-commissioned officers.

The suspects are charged with committing "an ordinary murder", and may face a maximum of 15 years in jail if convicted.

Todung also criticized the military's esprit de corps -- absolute devotion to the military -- which had affected the fairness and transparency of the legal process, as in many cases it had failed to punish its members.

"Any cases tried at the military tribunal will not be as open as other trials at a civilian court, because it is not in line with principles of the due process of law.

"Now the question is, should this sense of esprit de corps protect military operations which often victimize civilians?," Todung asked.

Papuan religious leaders and community leaders demanded earlier that the government bring the case to a human rights court as they believe that a political motive was behind Theys' murder.

Todung and Kusnanto, however, said that they were not out to challenge the presence of a military tribunal, but underlined that the tribunal was supposed to try members of the military who were accused of violating the military code of ethics, such as desertion or insubordination.

"The military handles all cases by classifying it as disobedience, even though they may actually be dealing with a human rights violation. This, of course, affects the verdict as it will be lighter than ones imposed in the general court," Kusnanto said.

Theys was found dead after he was reportedly abducted by unknown armed men on his way home from a function held at the local headquarters of Kopassus in November last year.

Theys' driver, Aristoteles, remains missing and is presumed dead.

In a bid to unravel the murder, the National Military Police interviewed a total of 109 witnesses, 40 of whom are military officers.