Court martial prosecutes soldier over Semanggi case

Court martial prosecutes soldier over Semanggi case

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The court martial began on Monday for an Army soldier who was
accused of shooting dead a student during a rally against the
state security bill near the Semanggi clover-leaf here in
September 1999.

First Pvt. Buhari Sastro Tua Putty, 27, is one of three
members of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) who is
standing trial on charges of reckless killing under the Criminal
Code, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The other defendants are Lt. Col. Ediwan Prabowo and First.
Lt. Timuardi, who will be tried separately. The dates for their
trials remain undecided.

The trials followed public clamor for justice sought for those
responsible for the incident and previous shootings of
demonstrators in Semanggi and Trisakti University in 1998 at the
human rights tribunal.

An investigation conducted by the National Commission on Human
Rights (Komnas HAM) found crimes against humanity had been
committed in the three incidents, but the findings were rejected
by the House of Representatives.

Law No. 26/1999 on human rights court says a human rights
tribunal is set up at the request of the House.

Buhari was accused of shooting dead University of Indonesia
student Yap Yun Hap without instructions from his supervisor
during widespread protests in Jakarta on Sept. 24, 1999, the
indictment said.

Another six civilians and a police officer died from gunshot
wounds and another 112 people, including 30 police officers, were
injured during widespread protests against the state security
bill on Sept. 23 and Sept. 24. The bill was endorsed by the House
on Sept. 23, but president B.J. Habibie decided not to pass the
bill into law following the incident. Up to now the bill remains
ineffective.

The bill was widely opposed for fear that it would emulate the
now-defunct 1963 Subversion Law which was used by the New Order
regime to suppress political opponents.

It remains unclear whether there will be trials for the deaths
of the seven other people.

Defendant Buhari, who remains free, was assisting riot troops
to handle the protests against the bill.

According to the indictment, the riot team was supplied with
11,200 live bullets of 5.56 millimeter caliber, 6,000 rubber
bullets and 1,500 blanks.

The riot team was on convoy from nearby BNI 1946 building on
Jl. Sudirman to the Jakarta Police Headquarters at about 8:20
p.m. on the day of incident. Some protesters hurled stones and
Molotov cocktails at the troops in the Setiabudi area, also on
Jl. Sudirman.

Defendant Ediwan, who was leading the convoy, ordered his
subordinates to prepare marksmen. Timuardi later picked three
soldiers, including Buhari.

Ediwan ordered his subordinates to fire warning shots to
disperse the protesters.

Later on near Atmajaya Catholic University near Semanggi, a
group of protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the
convoy. Buhari, who claimed to hear shots from a car in front of
him, opened fire at the protesters without orders from his
supervisor, the indictment said.

"The defendant felt uneasy and tired of the protesters," said
chief prosecutor Lt. Col. D. Djohari.

A military court had earlier sentenced a number of low-ranking
policemen over the 1998 Semanggi shootings to between three and
seven months in prison and discharged them from the police force.