Eight policemen get up to one year for campus attack
Eight policemen get up to one year for campus attack
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post/Makassar
The Makassar District Court in South Sulawesi sentenced eight
police officers on Wednesday to between seven months and one year
in prison for their involvement in an attack on students in May.
Prosecutors had sought up to two years' imprisonment for the
defendants: First Brig. Nur Hasyim and second brigadiers Rahmat
Hidayat, Arwin Arief, Dian Ardiawan, Varrurrasyid, Arisa, Yudi
Apriyanto and Marthen Kandek.
Nur received a one-year term, Rahmat and Arwin nine months
each, while Dian, Varrurrasyid, Arisa, Yudi and Marthen were
jailed for seven months each. The sentences are retroactive and
include the time they spent in detention during the
investigation.
The policemen were be held responsible for the May 1 attack on
the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) in Makassar that injured
at least 65 students, two of them with gunshot wounds.
The panel of three judges presided over by Jassolo Situmorang
said the eight defendants were proven "legally and convincingly"
guilty of violating Article 170.1 of the Criminal Code on
collective violence in public.
The court also ordered the convicts to return to the South
Sulawesi Police a .38 caliber pistol that was allegedly used
during the attack.
A police disciplinary committee had earlier punished the eight
officers over the violence by detaining them and delaying their
promotions, and Nur Hasyim was dishonorably dismissed on Oct. 1
from the police force for disciplinary violations.
The committee said Nur no longer deserved to be a policeman
because he had failed to protect the people and he had tarnished
the police's image.
The attack on UMI was carried out after a policeman was taken
hostage by students during an off-campus protest on Jl. Urip
Sumihardjo.
The protesters demanded the release of their classmates, who
had been arrested during an earlier rally at the South Sulawesi
General Elections Commission, in exchange for the policeman.
The rally ahead of the July 5 presidential election was held
to protest the two retired senior military officers who were
running for president, former top security minister Gen. Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and former military chief Gen. Wiranto, who had
emerged as leading contenders in the poll.
During the rally, the students tried to burn a military
uniform, but were prevented from doing so by police who beat and
dispersed them. At least 26 students were arrested in the
incident.
The police rejected the students' demand, and instead stormed
the university campus to free the abducted officer.
A team of policemen charged up to classrooms on the third
floor, where the students had set up camp, and beat them with
batons. Dozens of students were also forced to undress and
duckwalk downstairs, most of them covered in blood from head
injuries.
The policemen also yelled at and beat lecturers who tried to
intervene and protect the students or reason with the police.
Almost immediately following the incident, Insp. Gen. Jusuf
Manggabarani was dismissed as the South Sulawesi Police chief, as
well as Makassar Police chief Sr. Comr. Jose Rizal Effendi, East
Makassar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Suprianto and Panakukang
Police chief Adj. Comr. Namora Simanjuntak.