Ex-army officer executed 9 years after conviction

Ex-army officer executed 9 years after conviction

JAKARTA (JP): A retired Army sergeant major was executed in
the early hours in Central Sulawesi yesterday, nine years after
he was convicted by a court for killing four people, the Antara
news agency reported.

Kacong Laranu, 63, was executed at around 2. a.m. by a firing
squad brought in from Manado Police at an undisclosed location in
Central Sulawesi, Soewarso, the chief of the province's high
prosecution office, was reported by Antara as saying.

Kacong had exhausted all legal channels for a reprieve,
including a request for a presidential pardon which was turned
down in 1992, and a demand for a review of his case by the
Supreme Court, which was also rejected late last year.

Kacong was convicted by the district court in Palu, the
capital of Central Sulawesi, for the murder of four family
members in the Mpanau village in Donggala regency in 1985. The
motive was personal revenge.

The victims were Sirajuddin, 44 years old, his wife Siti
Ramlah, 43, and two of their children Erni, 9, and Fitria, 8.

There could have been six victims but neighbors found
Sirajuddin's other two children and got them to medical attention
in time.

Soewarso explained that in line with procedures, the execution
was witnessed by a senior police officer, Lt. Col. Piet
Tacumansang, Kacong's lawyer Frans Manurung and a number of
priests. His body was then examined by a government doctor to
certify that he was dead.

One of Kacong's last requests, to meet his relatives, was
granted a few days ago, the chief prosecutor said.

The convict also requested that the prosecution office arrange
for his Islamic funeral rites and this too was granted, he said.

His body was bathed and then a mass prayer was held led by
Kawaian Abdullah, the chief of the local chapter of the
Indonesian Ulema Council. His body was then buried in the Talise
public cemetery in Palu at around 4 a.m. None of his relatives
were present.

"We granted all his requests," Soewarso said.

However, he denied earlier press reports that Kacong had
requested to have the execution delayed until after the
completion of the holy Ramadhan month to allow him to fast.

"There was no such demand among his last requests," he said.

In Jakarta yesterday, two leading human rights campaigners
once again expressed their long standing objections to the
prescription of death sentences by the courts.

Todung Mulya Lubis, chairman of the Foundation for Human
Rights Studies, said capital punishment should be removed from
the Indonesian laws completely.

"The death sentence is cruel and inhumane because it does not
give convicts any opportunity to repent," he told The Jakarta
Post yesterday. "Punishment in law is intended for rehabilitation
and not as a vengeful act."

"We must not tolerate the death sentence because any case is
always complex. A murder cannot simply be attributed to a
person's attitude, but economic, psychological and emotional
factors all play their part."

H.J.C. Princen, chairman of the Institute for the Defense of
Human Rights, said the death sentence against Kacong was totally
meaningless. "The victims have already died. What good does it do
now to execute the murderer?"

Princen agreed with Mulya's call for the abolishment of
capital punishment.

Besides murder, capital punishment is also the maximum
sentence under the anti-subversion law and anti-narcotic
law.(emb/imn)