Dossier on Aceh shooting submitted

Dossier on Aceh shooting submitted

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

The case file on First Lt. Simorangkir, a member of the Navy
Military Police who shot five fellow soldiers in late August, has
been submitted to the Military Court in Aceh for prosecution.

The commander of the Iskandar Muda Military Command's Military
Police, Col. Bakir P., said in Banda Aceh on Tuesday: "Based on
medical examinations, First Lt. Simorangkir has been found to be
suffering from severe depression."

Simorangkir shot five soldiers from the Indonesian Military
Headquarters who were on duty with him at the Neusu Jaya Military
Base in Banda Aceh, the capital of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam
province.

Four of the soldiers died at the scene. The fifth remains in
serious condition at a hospital with gunshot wounds to his chest
and thigh.

The deceased were First Lt. Dedi, Chief Sgt. Bambang, Chief
Pvt. Suyatno and First Sgt Pandiangan.

Chief Pvt. Wawan will soon undergo surgery at the Iskandar
Muda Military Hospital in Banda Aceh.

They had been on duty in Aceh for seven months at the time of
the shooting. The military had originally said Simorangkir had
been in Aceh for 11 months at the time of the shooting.

If found guilty, Simorangkir could be jailed for at least 20
years, in addition to being dishonorably discharged from the
military.

"Should the military tribunal fail to discharge him, his unit
can propose that he be discharged because he is no longer fit for
duty," Bakir said.

Simorangkir is currently being treated in the Central Army
Hospital in Jakarta for severe depression. He has attempted to
commit suicide twice since the shooting, according to Bakir.

Bakir also conceded that numerous other TNI soldiers had
committed crimes in the troubled province of Aceh since the
imposition of martial law in May last year.

Martial law was lifted in May of this year and replaced by a
state of civil emergency. Despite this change, the military
remains in Aceh and continues to fight a low-level rebellion
against the Free Aceh Movement.

The number of violations by soldiers has been on the decline,
Bakir said, declining to give exact numbers of violations.

A middle-ranking Army officer shot and killed several soldiers
and wounded several more in the town of Timika in Papua in the
1990s. That incident was blamed on malaria.