Jail term sought for religious minister

Jail term sought for religious minister

JAKARTA: An Indonesian prosecutor called Monday for a
Christian priest to be jailed for five years for allegedly
possessing guns in a strife-torn district of Central Sulawesi
province.

Prosecutor I Putu Gde Jeladha Palu said Renaldy Damanik, 44,
had been proven guilty of possessing three home-made rifles and
144 rounds of ammunition.

Renaldy, 44, general secretary of the Christian Church Synod
of Central Sulawesi, is a vocal Christian community leader in the
Poso district.

Intermittent sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians
which broke out in 2000 in the district left up to 1,000 people
dead.

Putu Gde said the firearms and ammunition were found in
Renaldy's car when police searched it in August last year.

Renaldy has accused the police of planting the weapons. He
said there were no witnesses to the alleged discovery of the
guns.

The priest has been a strong critic of the security forces
handling of the violence in Poso, often accusing them of taking
sides.

The court hearing resumes on June 9, Judge I Nyoman Somanada
told AFP from the provincial capital of Palu.

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ANPA ..r..
AS-GEN--Indonesia-Papua
Activists allege Indonesian military abuses in Papua
JP/

Activists allege abuses in Papua

JAKARTA: Indonesian troops are suspected of killing a prisoner
in custody and of torturing several other people in a recent
operation in easternmost Papua province, a human rights group
said Monday.

The military denied the charges, the latest in a series
leveled at soldiers in the separatist-minded region on the
western side of Papua New Guinea island.

In a 68-page report, the local human rights group Coalition
for the Protection and Upholding of Human Rights said the alleged
abuses were committed in central Papua in April by troops
searching for the killers of two soldiers in the area.

Papua is home to a small separatist movement that has been
battling Indonesian rule since 1969.

Anum Siregar, a spokesman for the group, said the team had
collected data on 35 separate cases of arrest, torture and
intimidation and 17 arson attacks on homes in the central Papuan
region of Wamena.

"There has been torture of suspects ... especially in military
detention before they were handed over to the police," the report
said.

One of the suspects -- identified as Yapenas Murib -- died in
a hospital on Apr. 14 after being tortured in military custody,
the report said.

Col. Djazairi Nachrowi, a military spokesman in Jakarta, said
he was aware of the allegations, but that they were false.

"The process of investigation and the interrogation of those
implicated in the case was according to our procedures," he said.

"There were no reports of violence." --AP