Damanik investigation incomplete

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Central Sulawesi Police said they were be unable to comply with state prosecutors' demands to wrap up their investigation into Rev. Reinaldi Damanik, who has been accused of inciting sectarian violence in Poso.

"The police have questioned 14 witnesses, but we expect to summon two other key witnesses in the coming weeks," the chief detective with Central Sulawesi police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Ricky F. Wakanno, said on Wednesday.

Wakanno was responding to the Central Sulawesi Prosecutors' Office demand that police complete the investigation, as the trial was scheduled for December this year.

The two witnesses were Sartop, Damanik's driver, and Posende, a staff member at the local church in Central Sulawesi.

Damanik was declared a suspect in August for possessing dozens of rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, supposedly intended for use by Christians in the prolonged sectarian conflict that has claimed thousands of lives. -- Antara