Court acquits Priok defendant
Sari P. Setiogi, Jakarta
Former Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. (ret) Pranowo implicated in a massacre 20 years ago walked free on Tuesday, leaving a big question mark over the trial of his subordinate who now commands the army's elite special forces.
Maj. Gen. (ret) Pranowo fell to the courtroom floor and kissed it upon hearing the not guilty verdict, which meant that he did not share the fate of then-North Jakarta military commander Rudolph Butar Butar. On April 30, Butar Butar was sentenced to 10 years for his role in the Priok riot in which at least 24 people were killed and 170 were alledged to have been later tortured by the Military. Butar Butar is still free pending his appeal.
"Not guilty, legally and convincingly", presiding judge Andriani Nurdin told the hearing of the ad hoc human rights court in Central Jakarta.
Prosecutors had sought a five-year sentence for Pranowo for "gross human rights violations" in the case of the 1984 Tanjung Priok riot. He was charged of failing to stop his men from torturing about 170 prisoners at two military police stations, in Guntur, Central Jakarta and Cimanggis, east of Jakarta, following a mass protest in the area near North Jakarta's port.
But the court said evidence was lacking as witnesses among the former prisoners had withdrawn their testimonies, saying they had spoken "under duress" because of "strong emotions" against the Military.
"A witness who claimed he was held in a one-square-meter jail could not show the exact location," the judge said.
On the night of Sept. 12, 1984, soldiers had fired gunshots at protesters who demanded the release of four detained Muslim activists. They had led a protest against the state ideology of Pancasila and the government program of family planning, saying that it was against their beliefs.
An investigation by the National Commission on Human Rights, which followed demands of the reformasi movement to investigate past human rights violations, concluded that at least 24 people were killed and 54 injured in the shootings.
The latest verdict makes it increasingly unlikely the court will grant the prosecutor's demand of 10 years jail for Pranowo's deputy, Sriyanto Muntrasan.
Now a major general commanding the special forces (Kopassus), his uniformed men have crowded the court room "in solidarity" each time their commander appeared on trial; and court officials and judges appeared to forget to reprimand Sriyanto's men when they carried their weapons into the courtroom.
Judge Andriani said Pranowo might be guilty of "ordinary rights abuses" but said these abuses were "beyond the court's jurisdiction."
Pranowo was calm ahead of the reading of the verdict. Last month after hearing the prosecutor's demand for the 10-year sentence he said he was optimistic he would be freed.
Tuesday's decision follows on the heels of the acquittal last week of four high-ranking security officials in another high profile case involving atrocities in East Timor in 1999.