Detention period extended for GAM negotiators

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)