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.