Four soldiers admit to torturing detainees

JAKARTA (JP): Four defendants in a court-martial in Banda Aceh on Tuesday admitted to having tortured detainees and causing the deaths of four of them.

Their confessions were heard in the second session of the trial, D&R reported Tuesday from Banda Aceh. Their superior, a major, is being tried separately.

The defendants, part of a group of 27 due to be brought to trial, were privates first class Amsir, U. Harahap, Marolaum Situmorang, and Effendi.

They were charged with assault and battery on 40 detainees at a makeshift detention center on Jan. 9. The victims were part of a group of detainees held by the military following a separatist- hunting raid on North Aceh villages. The separatists were said to be responsible for the killing of seven off-duty soldiers and the abduction of two others in December.

The court heard the oral testimony of four soldiers and a written testimony from a victim, Jamaluddin.

Jamaluddin, 40, a villager of Ceumecet in Kota Makmur district, described in his testimony, read out by the prosecutor, how he and dozens of other detainees were tortured. Jamaluddin was still being treated at the Lhokseumawe General Hospital.

Those in charge of guarding the detainees had earlier claimed they were caught unawares and were unable to stop the sudden attack by the off-duty soldiers, who were said to have numbered dozens.

The soldiers on the witness stand on Tuesday said they saw the torturing of the detainees.

The defendants in the tightly guarded trial were said to have kicked and slapped detainees as well as beating them with rifles and wooden sticks, and electrocuting them.

The trial presided over by Lt.Col. P.J. Piter with members Maj. P. Budiastuti and Maj. Bambang, resumes on Jan. 27.

The military has identified the accused soldiers as being members of Battalions 111 and 113 and the Guided Missile Detachment, all based in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh. (anr)