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.