Former battalion commander to go on trial in Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): A former battalion commander in Aceh, whose men were involved in the torture-killing of four people under military detention, is due to go on trial this week, the local military police chief said on Thursday.

North Aceh Military Police chief Lt. Col. Musmarsono told The Jakarta Post from Lhokseumawe that the report on Maj. BJ, the former acting commander of Battalion 113, had been completed and would soon be submitted to military prosecutors.

"The court-martial of Maj. BJ is expected to be opened in (the provincial capital of) Banda Aceh on Friday or Saturday," Musmarsono said.

Musmarsono added that BJ was officially replaced as the battalion commander by Lt. Col. Bambang Haryatna at a ceremony in Lhokseumawe on Wednesday.

"BJ was the acting commander of Battalion 113. He replaced Lt. Col. Iskandar M.S., who is now taking up a new position as the Pidie Military Commander," Musmarsono said.

Musmarsono also said the newly-appointed Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief of General Affairs, Lt. Gen. Sugiono, was due to arrive in Lhokseumawe on Friday.

Yakob Hamzah, of the Iskandar Muda Legal Aid Institute in Lhokseumawe, told the Post on Thursday that Sugiono would meet with local officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations on Friday.

Four detainees were tortured to death and dozens of others brutalized in Lhokseumawe on Saturday allegedly by ABRI personnel, including members of Battalion 113, Battalion 111 and the Guided Missile Detachment.

The military have since Saturday arrested at least 27 soldiers who attacked the 40 detainees held at the Indonesian Youth Committee building. The 40 were arrested during military raids to track down a Free Aceh separatist leader, Ahmad Kandang, and two soldiers believed to be held hostage by the separatists.

Musmarsono added that Bukit Barisan Military Commander Brig. Gen. Abdul Rachman Gaffar and Aceh Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud were also in Lhokseumawe on Thursday visiting the victims of Saturday's incident at the Lhokseumawe General Hospital.

Hospital official Syukri Taher was quoted by Antara as saying on Thursday that at least 18 people were still being treated there.

The news agency said one of them, Ayub, 30, was still in a coma. Hospital officials said most of the victims were suffering from head injuries.

The agency reported that Gaffar appealed to the victims not take revenge against the military.

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

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

Human rights groups have said that since Jan. 3 at least 21 people have been killed in the Wibawa Operation launched to hunt down Ahmad in North Aceh. (byg)