JSX bombing suspects file lawsuit against police
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty-two suspects in the bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building filed a lawsuit against the Jakarta Police on Tuesday for unlawful arrest and detention.
In the lawsuit, filed at the South Jakarta District Court, the 22 men demanded the police pay them each Rp 3 million in compensation and issue an apology in all of the country's printed and electronic media.
If the men win the lawsuit but the police fail to fulfill these demands, the men have demanded the police then be made to pay them an additional Rp 1 million per day.
A clerk at the Jakarta District Court, M. Yusuf, confirmed the court had registered the lawsuit.
Lawyers from the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) representing the 22 suspects said police ignored legal procedures in arresting their clients.
"(The police) could have mistakenly arrested (the men) because they failed to follow legal procedures from the very beginning," PBHI chairman Hendardi said during a media conference.
Hendardi said police had insufficient evidence when they arrested the 22 men at an auto repair shop, Krung Baro Motor, in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, on Sept. 23.
PBHI earlier said that at the time of the arrests some of the men were in the shop to have their vehicles repaired, others arrested were eating at a nearby food stall and one man was a scavenger who happened to be walking past the shop.
The police earlier said they discovered a timer and carpet fibers at the workshop similar to those found at the JSX building.
The 22 men arrested are Tengku Ismuhadi, Nuryadin, Iswadi H. Jamil, Heri Adam, Jefri Nurdin, Zakaria, Fajri H. Huzein, Ismail Yunus, Mohammad Rizal Abdullah, M. Yusuf S., Asri Hanafiah, Sarbini IBR, Azhar, Hasnali, Fauzi A. Rahman, Armia Daud, Tarmizi, T. Zukri T.P., Tabrani, Bachtiar, Rachman Zaenal and M. Saleh Daud.
Police released on Friday all but three of the suspects -- Ismuhadi, the owner of the auto repair shop, Nuryadin and Iswadi -- saying their detention had been suspended.
PBHI has demanded the police release the three suspects still being detained.
Johnson Panjaitan, the deputy chairman for legal aid and advocacy at PBHI, said the three men had undergone "some physical and psychological torture" during questioning at police headquarters.
Ten other suspects in the JSX bombing and a grenade explosion at the Malaysian Embassy in South Jakarta are being detained at city police headquarters.
They include the four primary suspects in the incidents: Ismuhadi and Ibrahim A. Manaf, who allegedly planned the Sept. 13 bombing at the JSX building, and soldiers Ibrahim Hasan and Irwan, who reportedly assembled and planted the bomb.
The JSX bombing left 10 people dead and dozens of others injured, as well as destroying some 200 vehicles. (jaw/bby)