Evidence in Theys' murder delivered to military police

Evidence in Theys' murder delivered to military police

.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Irian Jaya Provincial Police on Saturday handed over 19
pieces of evidence concerning the murder of pro-independence
Papuan leader Dortheys Hiyo Eluway to the Military Police.

Three army officers are been detained as suspects in
connection with the killing.

Receiving the evidence from the deputy chief of the provincial
police, Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan, was Col. Sutarna, chief of
the province's Trikora Military Command's Military Police
detachment. The police handed over the evidence at the request of
the Jakarta-based Military Police Corps, which is still
questioning the three suspects.

The evidence was collected by the police at various places
where Theys went to before his murder and included two Kijang
minivans, a belt, a pair of socks, the jeans which Theys wore
when he attended the celebration of National Heroes' Day at the
Kopassus (Army Special Forces) barracks in the town on Nov. 10,
2001, a day before he was found dead in Koya Tengah Village on
the Papua New Guinea border.

The evidence also included the findings of the autopsy on
Theys, and the results of the police's questioning of a number of
military and civilian witnesses.

Raziman hailed the significant progress made in the ongoing
investigation of the case, saying that with the evidence the
Military Police Corps would be able to pursue its investigation
so as to reveal all those involved, besides the three suspects
named so far.

"We hope the Military Police will be able to carry out the
investigation thoroughly and bring before a military tribunal all
those who were involved in the murder," he said.

The police investigation started only days after the murder
but subsequently stalled as they were prevented under military
law from questioning the servicemen suspected of being involved
in the case.

Facing increasing pressure at home and from the international
community, the central government set up a national commission of
inquiry to investigate the murder, recommending that the Military
Police carry out further investigation of the three suspects who
are suspected of being responsible for the killing.

The three, who are being detained at Military Police
Headquarters in Jakarta, are Lt. Col. Hartomo, commander of the
Kopassus unit, Major Donny Hutabarat, chief of the intelligence
and code unit, and Capt. Rianaldo, an officer in an operations
unit.

Insp. Gen. (ret.) Koesparmono Irsan, who led the national
commission of inquiry, said after meeting with President Megawati
Soekarnoputri in Jakarta recently that three other officers who
were also allegedly linked to the murder had yet to be arrested.

Theys was found dead inside his Kijang minivan on Nov. 11,
2001, in Koya Tengah a day after he attended the ceremony at the
Kopassus compound in the Hamady area of the town.

Aristoteles Masoka, who drove Theys to the ceremony, is still
missing.

Raziman said the local police wound continue their search for
Aristoteles, the key witness in the murder case. Aristoteles went
missing after he returned to the Kopassus barracks to report
Theys' abduction.

Sutarno rejected the increasing calls for the three suspects'
to be tried in Jayapura instead of the High Military Tribunal in
the East Java capital of Surabaya, saying that this was the way
it had to be based upon Indonesian Military (TNI) regulations.

"Only the low-ranking servicemen who are involved in the case
will be tried by the Jayapura tribunal," he said.