JSX bomb suspects revoke statements

JSX bomb suspects revoke statements

JAKARTA (JP): The watchdog Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Rights Association (PBHI) claimed on Monday that the suspected
bombers of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building had revoked
their confessions to police investigators.

PBHI executive director Hendardi said the nine suspects
withdrew their earlier statements because they were made under
police coercion.

The suspects have been detained at Cipinang penitentiary since
Jan. 13, for their alleged involvement in the Sept. 13 bombing.

"They have been questioned and forced to sign dossiers without
being accompanied by their lawyers. The police even prohibited
one of the suspects, Iwan Setiawan alias Husen, from having a
lawyer.

"The suspects have just made a written statement to revoke
dossiers made by police investigators," Hendardi told journalists
after a brief meeting with the Jakarta Prosecutors' Office head
Basrief Arief.

During the meeting, the association urged the prosecutors to
re-examine the dossiers to assess whether the case can be brought
to trial, considering several inconsistencies in police efforts
to reveal the perpetrators of the blast.

"We want the prosecutors to carry out proper legal procedures
since we are unconvinced that the police complied with procedures
right from the moment of arrest of the suspects through to during
the investigation," Hendardi said.

He pointed out that the police disclosure that they had to
shoot two suspects who resisted arrest in Bandung, West Java, was
untrue for the two were unarmed and they were shot by the police
after they had been arrested.

The suspects are: Ibrahim AMD bin A. Wahab, Iswadi H. Jamil,
Iwan Setiawan and M. Udin (who are also charged with being
responsible for a grenade explosion at the Malaysian Embassy),
member of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) Chief
Corp. Ibrahim Hasan, member of the Army's Special Force
(Kopassus) Chief. Sgt. Irwan, owner of an auto repair shop Tengku
Ismuhadi Jafar and two workers at the shop.

Prosecutor Basrief Arief said that the office will enclose the
suspects' statement in the dossiers, saying that the office has
no authorization to carry out another investigation.

"We have declared that the dossiers are complete so it's
better for the PBHI to defend their clients before the court. Now
we are studying whether the case should go to a joint tribunal or
a general trial," he told journalists.

Separately, in Bandung, Mochammad Ali, is being tried at the
Bandung district court for allegedly selling explosive materials
to Ibrahim Hasan and Irwan.

Prosecutor Djoksan Ali Dahlan said that defendant Mochammad
Ali, could be charged with the death penalty as stated by
Emergency Law No. 12/1951 for possessing illegal weapons, Antara
reported.

Ali is not accompanied by any lawyer.

A police search in September of his house in Bandung found 12
weapons and a pen gun, which are believed to have been ordered by
the other two suspects.

Ali dismissed accusations that he supplied weapons to the
bombers and rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) troops.

"I don't know anything," he told the court on Monday. (bby)