Kontras staffer assaulted at court

Kontras staffer assaulted at court

JAKARTA: A group of unidentified men assaulted a female
staffer of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of
Violence (Kontras) after she attended a trial in the East Jakarta
District Court on Thursday.

Kontras coordinator Ori Rahman told reporters that the
staffer, whose name was withheld, was crossing the parking lot at
the courthouse when a man ordered his accomplices to snatch the
camera she was carrying around her neck. The woman was beaten
when she attempted to resist.

It was the fourth session of the administrative action taken
against the government's appointment of A.M. Hendropriyono as the
chief of the National Intelligence Agency.

Dozens of men who were loitering around the compound prevented
other Kontras staffers and members of the Jakarta Legal Aid
Institute (LBH Jakarta) from chasing the culprits.

It was believed that the assault was premeditated. Kontras and
LBH Jakarta deplored the incident which they described as
contempt of the law.

Apart from reporting the assault to the Jakarta Police, the
two organizations have sent a letter to President Megawati
Soekarnoputri calling on her to uphold the law. --JP