Tue, 28 Aug 2001

Detention period extended for GAM negotiators

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): The Aceh Police have extended the period of detention of six negotiators from the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) by another 40 days, reportedly for the sake of facilitating further investigation and inquiry.

Arie Maulana, a defense lawyer for the GAM negotiators, said on Sunday that the extension followed the expiry of their original term of detention on Aug. 9, and was approved by the Aceh Prosecutor's Office despite an earlier government suggestion that they would be released.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the media in Jakarta last week that President Megawati Sukarnoputri approved of the release of the six negotiators on condition that they abided by the prevailing laws.

GAM circles had responded positively to the goodwill offer to bring peace through dialog to the restive province and described the planned release as a precondition to further talks.

Their optimism about achieving an amicable settlement was dampened, however, as the six GAM representatives were not set free even after the recent visit of a ministerial team led by Susilo to Aceh.

According to Arie, who is also an executive of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) in Banda Aceh, the GAM negotiators' arrest was contradictory to the government's policy of handling the Aceh conflict through dialog.

"These negotiators should have been protected based on the Geneva agreement between GAM and Indonesia and been given diplomatic immunity," Arie told The Jakarta Post.

The six, Muhammad bin Usman, Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki, Nasiruddin bin Ahmed, Teuku Kamarruzaman, Amdi Hamdani and Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, have been detained on charges of treason.

Arie said the detainees were heavily guarded and their access to communications and information was limited to reading newspapers in the waiting room.

The Aceh Police only allowed their relatives to see the suspects while restricting visits by the team of lawyers and other relevant parties, who were most recently denied entry last weekend, he said.

In spite of the legal aid team's protests against the police measures, a duty officer would only say (on Sunday) that visits could be made starting on Monday.

Arie explained that the LBH team members only wanted to consult with the GAM negotiators as their defense lawyers, but that the Aceh police had refused to grant them access.

"This is obviously an infringement of the suspects' rights as stipulated in the criminal procedures code," he added.

Meanwhile, the renewed violence in the restive province on Sunday has claimed at least 15 lives, officials said on Monday.

A total of seven male bodies with gunshot wounds were found in Ikue Lhueng village, Meukik district, South Aceh, on Sunday, said Sudarsono, the Aceh Police deputy spokesman for the current law and order operation.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman in South Aceh, Ayah Manggeng, charged that the victims were civilians who had been arrested by the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) sometime ago.

Sudarsono, however, said it was impossible for Brimob officers to "just kill people and get away with it".

"All assignments given to the troops are very clear, and they have superiors and a chain of command to follow," Sudarsono said. (50/edt/arp)