DKP to recommend Prabowo's trial, says Gen. Subagyo
DKP to recommend Prabowo's trial, says Gen. Subagyo
JAKARTA (JP): The chief of the Officers Honor Council, Gen.
Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, confirmed yesterday the seven-member body
would recommend that former commander of the Army's Special Force
(Kopassus) Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto be court-martialled for his
alleged involvement in the abductions and torture of political
activists.
"We'll recommend (to Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto) that
Prabowo be court-martialled, rather than just be given
administrative punishment," Subagyo said after saying Friday
prayers at the mosque in the Army's headquarters.
The ultimate decision, however, will be taken by Wiranto
himself, Subagyo pointed out.
"You cannot ask me whether Prabowo will eventually be court-
martialled since it is the ABRI chief's authority to decide," he
said.
"We can only give a recommendation to the Armed Forces
commander. It can either be accepted or rejected," he added.
Prabowo, his successor Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono and the
former commander of Kopassus' Group IV for Intelligence
Operations, Col. Chairawan, are currently being investigated by
the council for the abductions. Ten lower-ranking Kopassus
soldiers will be court-martialled for allegedly carrying out the
abductions.
Prabowo has admitted that the abductions took place because he
misinterpreted an instruction from a superior.
It is also known that he was ordered to lend Kopassus
personnel to another unit and that those troops were placed under
the unit's commander through what is known in military
terminology as "under operational control" (BKO).
The council was established on Aug. 3 and started work the
next day. It will proceed with its questioning next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Chairawan expressed his hope yesterday that the
whole affair would soon be over.
Speaking to reporters in a rare public appearance since the
start of the probe, he said it was now enough for him to talk
before the council and that he did not need to talk anywhere
else.
"I hope that the case can be completed soon," he said after
saying Friday prayers with Subagyo.
Chairawan, who appeared to have lost weight, declined to
comment on the investigation, and treated reporters' questions
warily.
"Please ask Pak Bagyo," he said, referring to Subagyo.
"I just did what my superior ordered me to do," he said,
before joining Subagyo who was returning to the main building in
the Army Headquarters.
Chairawan, who was removed from his post at Kopassus a few
days before the council's hearings started last week, said he no
longer dealt with intelligence activities.
"I now do some administrative duties at the Army's General
Staff Department," he said.
Separately, military observer Rudini confirmed that any
instruction to detach Kopassus troops to another military unit
could not have come from an officer other than the Armed Forces
commander.
"Kopassus is operationally under the Armed Forces commander's
supervision. The decision to transfer the troops must have come
from him," he said.
Rudini did not mention any names, but he was likely referring
to Gen. (ret.) Feisal Tanjung, who led the Armed Forces from 1993
until March this year. The abductions took place between May 1997
and May 1998.
The Army chief, on the other hand, could not have made the
instruction since he only supervises Kopassus' administrative
needs, said Rudini, who is himself a former Army chief.
He said, however, that he was sure there could not have been
any instruction from the Armed Forces to kidnap and torture
activists.
"He (Prabowo) must have created his own operation. It was his
own misinterpretation of his superior's order."
Former Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso
concurred. "He must have arbitrarily acted on his own," he said.
(imn)