Government gears up for Aceh rights trial

JAKARTA (JP): The government is making final preparations for the joint military-civilian trial of 24 Army soldiers implicated in crimes against humanity in Aceh last year.

State Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M. Saad said on Wednesday the government had established a joint panel of judges for the trial and a security team from Aceh to guard witnesses and defendants during court sessions.

"The opening of the trial depends on the panel, but we hope it will start prior to the Acehnese people's congress scheduled in the middle of April," he said on the sidelines of a seminar organized by the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) here.

According to him, the panel would consist of three civilian judges from the Medan district court, two military judges from the Jakarta Military Court and a reserve civilian judge from Banda Aceh. He declined to identify the judges by name.

The trial of Army troops was originally scheduled to begin last month. It was postponed as the defendants' dossiers had not been completed.

The soldiers are accused of killing Acehnese ulema Tengku Bantaqiah and his 22 followers. It will be the first of five human rights violation cases to be brought to trial.

Most of the defendants, low-rank soldiers in the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad), are based in the command's Division I in Cilodong, Bogor, West Java.

Hasballah said that the Military Police had already completed their dossiers. The documents were slated to be sent to the Attorney General's Office later on Wednesday and to the defendants on Thursday.

The Attorney General's Office is expected to submit the dossiers to the Aceh Provincial Prosecutors Office as quickly as possible, he said.

Separately, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono disclosed that he was coordinating the deployment of a special team in order to verify recent abuses of civilians by Mobile Brigade Police troops in Aceh. The team will be comprised of representatives of his ministry, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Indonesian Military (TNI) headquarters.

"The responsibility of the verification team is to investigate these incidents," he said before attending a Cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office.

At least 12 people, including two police officers, have been killed since the unprecedented meeting between acting State Secretary Bondan Gunawan and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) military commander Tengku Abdullah Syafi'ie last Thursday.

Despite the ongoing clashes between the security personnel and GAM, TNI Chief Adm. Widodo A.S. said that he would not change his nonrepressive approach in Aceh.

"The security apparatus has stopped repressive operations," Widodo said at a meeting on the military's civic mission on Wednesday.

Congress

In a related development, President Abdurrahman Wahid was urged to help create a conducive environment during next month's Aceh People's Congress in Banda Aceh in order to enable participants find constructive solutions in ending violence in the rebellious province.

Speaking to journalists after meeting with the President, Tengku Syech Samaun Risyad, the congress' committee chairman, said Abdurrahman responded positively to his request for security assurance during the congress.

"The congress committee expects that the President will help us create good security conditions, at least before and during the congress," Samaun said on Wednesday.

The six-day congress will start on April 22.

A preliminary forum to be held in Medan will precede the congress at the end of this month. The President is scheduled to close the Medan event, called the Aceh Community Congress.

Meanwhile, GAM spokesman Ismail Syahputra asserted that his organization would not attend the two congresses in Banda Aceh and Medan.

"If there is a talk, it must be an inter-states meeting between the Aceh State and Indonesia with a third party as a mediator, such as the United Nations (UN) or other countries like the United States or Britain," he said on Wednesday.

Syafi'ie himself refused to comment on the congress, saying only GAM supreme leader Hasan Tiro had the final say.

"I am an armed forces commander. If you want to arrange negotiations or diplomatic efforts, please contact Wali Negara," Syafi'ie said, referring to Hasan, who lives in exile in Sweden. (50/51/edt/prb/rms)