Five more troops arrested for murder in Aceh

Five more troops arrested for murder in Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): Five more soldiers have been arrested in
connection with Saturday's brutal murder of four alleged
separatist rebels who were in military custody in Aceh, a local
military commander said on Tuesday.

Twenty other prisoners were seriously injured in the attack
for which a total of 16 soldiers have now been detained.

Lilawangsa Military Commander Col. Johnny Wahab told The
Jakarta Post from the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe that the
16 were among dozens of troops who attacked 40 people detained in
the Lhokseumawe office of the Indonesian Youth Committee.

The 40 were arrested on Saturday during a raid on an alleged
separatist target in the village of Kandang, two kilometers south
of Lhokseumawe. The target of the raid was Acehnese separatist
leader Ahmad Kandang, who was thought to be hiding in the
village. The military also hoped to locate two marines abducted
on Dec. 30.

"I am prepared to be held responsible for the actions of my
men," Johnny told the Post. On Monday, the commander said his
troops had committed an evil and savage act.

The London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International
said on Monday that the killing of four detainees was "one more
grim reminder" of the unchecked power of the military in
Indonesia.

"This disproportionate response to the deaths of the soldiers
will only fan existing tensions," Amnesty said in a statement,
referring to seven soldiers killed on Dec. 29.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN)
Amien Rais called on Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto to
resign over the atrocities.

He was quoted by a party official, Bara Hasibuan, as telling a
visiting delegation of U.S. Congress members that "Wiranto should
be held responsible for a number of unresolved military
atrocities, especially...for the Aceh killings."

The military accused Ahmad, who reportedly fled the village on
Saturday, of being behind the killing of the seven off-duty
soldiers in Lhok Nibung and the kidnapping of two marines in the
North Aceh district of Muara Dua.

Amnesty said the recent withdrawal of troops from the troubled
province and Wiranto's apology for military atrocities in Aceh in
August had been countered by "a leap back into the terror that
characterized the last ten years in Aceh".

Munir from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of
Violence (Kontras) said on Tuesday that since Jan. 3 at least 21
people had been killed in the Wibawa Operation launched to hunt
down Ahmad in North Aceh.

"The operation is more a way of repressing the people rather
than an effort to enforce the law," Munir said.

Munir said that most of the victims in Saturday's attack had
suffered head injuries caused by blunt objects, including
firearms and a wooden table.

Marzuki Darusman of the National Commission on Human Rights
said on Tuesday that the torturing and killing of detainees in
Aceh on Saturday was "highly unacceptable".

"The Armed Forces (ABRI) leaders must find a comprehensive
solution to the Aceh problem.

"It must be solved through legal means, respect human rights,
and include cultural, sociological and religious approaches,"
Marzuki said.

Human rights activists have said that the current outbreak of
violence in the province is due to past violations of human
rights which have yet to be satisfactorily resolved.

They have demanded that those accused of violating human
rights be brought to trial.

Gen. Wiranto has so far only apologized for the military
atrocities and said that they "exceeding acceptable norms".

A delegation from the National Commission on Human Rights
which returned from Aceh on Saturday said that at least 781
people were killed and thousands more suffered during a military
operation against a separatist movement in the province. The
operation was launched in 1989 and came to an end in the middle
of last year. (byg/edt)