Death sentence asked for deranged soldier
Death sentence asked for deranged soldier
JAKARTA (JP): Military prosecutors demanded yesterday a death
sentence for a trigger-happy officer who shot 26 people in a
shooting spree at the Timika airport last year.
Prosecutor Col. Balukia at the Jayapura Military Court also
demanded that the soldier, identified only as Second Lt. San, 37,
be sacked and stripped of all his rights as a member of the Armed
Forces (ABRI). The prosecution also demanded the court revoke any
medals and awards he had received for his service with the Army's
Special Force Kopassus.
San also has to pay for the court expenses of Rp 5,000
(approximately US$2), Antara reported.
Evidence in the dossiers included the results of 26 doctors'
examinations on the shooting victims, while a SS-1 machine gun,
52 bullet shells of 5.56 mm caliber, three magazines and an anti-
bullet vest were confiscated.
The prosecution said the officer had been proven guilty of
killing 16 people, both fellow ABRI officers and civilians, and
injuring ten others.
Balukia dismissed a previous claim by military top brass that
the officer was in a poor mental state due to heavy stress or
disease, because he had taken the time to change the gun's
magazine after the first round of bullets were fired.
Balukia also said the defendant had taken good aim when he
opened fire.
The defendant fainted minutes before Balukia finished reading
the sentence demand. The court session was briefly adjourned but
resumed after the defendant was taken outside the courtroom.
The defendant's team of lawyers led by Maj. Cholid Ashari and
Capt. Santoso requested time to prepare their response to the
demand.
The shooting incident took place in mid-April last year.
Previous reports said San became involved in a dispute with a
fellow officer. The lieutenant suddenly picked up a machine gun
and sprayed the soldiers and civilian workers at the Timika
airport hangar with bullets.
Among the officers killed in the shooting spree were Lt. Col.
Adel Gusti Mego, chief of the local detachment of the Army
Special Force, and Capt. Sujatmiko of the Army Strategic Reserves
Command. A foreign helicopter pilot of PT Airfast Indonesia,
Vittle Michael Francis of New Zealand, also died in the incident.
The Armed Forces previously said San was temporarily deranged
because of a bout of malaria. The military later said he was
suffering a mental disorder.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff R. Hartono said last year it was
common for people stationed in places like East Timor and Irian
Jaya to be prone to shooting sprees. (swe)