George immune from extradition: Oetojo

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman says academic and human rights activist George Aditjondro cannot be extradited from Australia, despite a request from the Indonesian government.

Speaking to reporters after signing a treaty for mutual assistance in criminal matters between the Indonesian justice minister and Australian Attorney General Michael Lavarch, Oetojo said yesterday that political crimes are ruled out as a basis for extradition in the Indonesia-Australia extradition treaty.

"George Aditjondro, who is wanted by the Indonesian government on political charges, cannot be extradited from Australia," Oetojo said.

George, who is still listed as a staff lecturer at Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Java, earned official wrath for publishing a study on the political situation in East Timor which the authorities said contained inaccuracies.

He is also wanted by Yogyakarta police on charges of discrediting the Indonesian government during a seminar at the Indonesian Islamic University in August 1994.

George, 49, who is currently lecturing in Asian studies at Perth's Murdoch University, has expressed a willingness to become a permanent resident of Australia.

George is one of the three people who Chief of General Affairs of the Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Soeyono has said is an activist of the communist "formless organizations" that have been blamed for launching provocative actions against the government.

The other two are author Pramoedya Ananta Toer and labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.

George has denied being a communist.

Lavarch said the treaty will allow both countries to request and receive assistance on a range of important criminal law enforcement processes.

"The treaty will include the taking of evidence, the searching and seizing of documents and material, the arrangements for witnesses to give evidence or assist in investigations, service of documents and the restraint, forfeiture and confiscation of the proceeds of crime," Lavarch said.

He said that the treaty will build on the existing extradition relationship between Jakarta and Canberra.

The extradition treaty, which rules out extradition for political criminals, was signed on April 22, 1992.

Lavarch said Indonesia was the second country in Southeast Asian with which Australia has established a formal mutual assistance relationship. "The first was with the Philippines in 1993," he said.

"I am confident that this new arrangement will prove very useful for both countries' domestic law enforcement, as well as in cases of transnational crime in the region," he said.

Oetojo said there are 35 types of crime were covered in the mutual assistance treaty, but did not say what they were.(imn)