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)