Hunt on for two marines convicted of killing businessman, bodyguard
Hunt on for two marines convicted of killing businessman, bodyguard
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Navy and the police are searching for two marines convicted
in the murder of a businessman in 2003 who escaped on Thursday
from a military prison.
A military analyst has blamed the jailbreak on the government
and the House of Representatives, who failed to amend the
prevailing laws on the military and defense as follow-up to the
laws on the National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI)
that constitute the separation of the two forces.
Chief of the Navy's military police Brig. Gen. Soenarko said
on Sunday he was heading the manhunt, which involved the Navy's
intelligence and military police.
"We are going after the two soldiers. We believe they are
still in the Jakarta area," Soenarko said.
A press conference will be held on Monday at the Navy
Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta on the matter.
Syam A. Sanusi and Suud Rusli, who were convicted by a
military tribunal of killing PT Arena Sarana Bakti (Asaba)
president director Boedyharto Angsono and his Army's Special
Forces (Kopassus) bodyguard, Second Sgt. Edi Siyep, in July 2003,
escaped from a Navy detention center after cutting the iron bars
of their cell using a saw.
How the convicts obtained the iron saw is unknown, though
Soenarko suspects the involvement of "insiders".
He said investigators were questioning the guards who were on
duty when Syam and Suud fled. The two were discharged from the
military for their roles in the murder.
Another soldier, Second Pvt. Agung Wibowo, escaped from his
cell in the Jakarta Military Police detention center prior to his
questioning in connection with a shooting case and illegal weapon
transactions in September last year. He was apprehended after 12
hours on the run.
The most high profile jailbreak involving the military took
place in 2001, when four suspects of the 2000 Jakarta Stock
Exchange (JSX) bombing, who are former servicemen, broke out of
Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta. One of them was rearrested
and later sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
The bombing of the JSK building's basement parking lot left 10
people dead.
Heri Prihantono of the ProPatria think tank, which campaigns
for military reform, said on Sunday the prevailing judicial
system, which exempts the military, was to blame for jailbreaks
involving soldiers.
"The suspects of the Asaba boss murder were court-martialled
and served their prison terms in the military prison, even though
the case should have been handled by the police," Heri said.
Heri said that following the separation of the police from the
military in 2000, soldiers involved in crimes should stand trial
in civil courts.
He said that while the TNI had acknowledged the supremacy of
the Criminal Code following the endorsement of the TNI law last
year, no changes had been made as the laws remained unchanged.
"The government and House Commission I and II must amend the
laws, particularly on the military tribunal, to enable the police
to investigate crimes involving military personnel and take them
to district courts," Heri said.