Former battalion commander to go on trial in Aceh

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)