Government starts investigation into atrocities in Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): The government officially began on Monday a joint investigation into alleged military atrocities in the rebellious province of Aceh.

The investigation, under the direction of Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, signifies a compromise as future prosecutions would involve a tribunal comprised of both military and civilian judges.

"Today a team from the interconnection tribunal officially started its investigation into alleged rights abuses in Aceh," Marzuki said.

He was speaking after meeting with Military Police chief Maj. Gen. Djasri Marin, chief of military prosecutors Maj. Gen. Timor Manurung and Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Marzuki said that the investigation would initially be focused on five cases brought to attention earlier this month by the government-sanctioned inquiry into Aceh atrocities.

The cases in question are: the rape of a woman in Pidie in 1996; the killing of seven people in Idi Cut in February; the fatal shooting of at least 39 protesters in North Aceh in May; the tortures between 1997 and 1998 in Rumah Geudong, known to locals as the slaughter house, in Pidie; and the shooting in West Aceh in July which killed at least 65 people, including Islamic boarding school teacher Tengku Bantaqiah.

Marzuki, however, added that the latter two cases would be given priority.

"You can be assured that these two cases will be tried in the interconnection tribunal," he said without giving a timeframe for when the tribunal would be convened.

Political leaders had been adamant that such atrocities be tried in a non-military court, while top military brass initially rejected the idea of its members being tried outside of a military court.

Marzuki then invoked a 1983 decree between the Minister of Defense and Minister of Justice which stipulated that a interconnection court could be established to try soldiers in a non-military court.

Marzuki, who is also chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights, had argued that trying alleged rights perpetrators in a military court would not have significant political impact for the Acehnese and that the victims were also civilians.

Many see a fair legal solution to past alleged atrocities in Aceh as a key component to satisfying the increasing unrest in the restive province.

The joint investigation has submitted to the Supreme Court a proposal for the composition of the tribunal which will include both civilian and military judges.

"We will propose that there should be three civilian judges and two military judges in the interconnection tribunal," Marzuki said on Monday.

He added that investigators of the interconnection tribunal would consist of military investigators and police personnel. (byg)