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.