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)