Civilian trial demanded for suspects in Theys murder
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.