Court to issue ruling on rights abuse summonses

Court to issue ruling on rights abuse summonses

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Central Jakarta District Court will put to an end the
controversy over the legitimacy of a rights commission when it
issues a ruling on Thursday as to whether the commission can
force a group of military and police generals to comply with
summonses for questioning in connection with three high-profile
incidents in 1998 and 1999.

The court's deputy president, Rusdy As'ad, told members of the
Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP HAM) at
Trisakti University in May 1998, and Semanggi in November 1998
and October 1999 that the court had received all the necessary
documents submitted by the commission.

"We will make a ruling on the summonses, regardless of the
controversy over whether KPP HAM is validly constituted or
otherwise," Rusdy said.

Both Indonesian Military and National Police Headquarters have
resisted KPP HAM's request to allow their officers to appear for
questioning on the grounds that the inquiry lacked legitimacy as
the House of Representatives had already declared that the
incidents in question involved no gross violations of human
rights.

The court's ruling on whether KPP HAM should be allowed to
subpoena the generals would be issued by a panel of judges of
Thursday.

Rusdy said that if the court found for the commission, it
could then issue the summonses consecutively until such time as
the officers eventually complied with them.

KPP HAM member Usman Hamid said the six top military officers,
including former TNI chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto and former Jakarta
Military Commander Lt. Gen. Djaja Suparman, would be summoned
again by KPP HAM in the future.

After the meeting, Usman told reporters that Law. No 39/1999
on human rights and Law No. 26/2000 on human rights tribunals,
allowed KPP HAM to subpoena defiant officials.

"They could actually be punished should they insist on
rejecting the summones," he said, pointing to Article No. 224 of
the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of nine months
in jail.

If the officials ignored a court ruling ordering them to
comply with the summonses, KPP HAM would ask the Attorney
General's Office to summon them, Usman said.

Last week, the court dismissed KPP HAM's call for it to
intervene due to a lack of supporting documents.

KPP HAM was established by the National Commission on Human
Rights following approval by the then president Abdurrahman Wahid
on Aug. 27, 2001.