Lawyer accuses police of coercion

Lawyer accuses police of coercion

JAKARTA (JP): A lawyer recently lodged a complaint with
Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi in connection with
Tangerang Police detectives alleged use of threats to coerce five
men into admitting to a crime they did not commit.

"Tangerang Police detectives forced my clients in December of
last year to admit that they forged signatures on land use
permits in 1995," lawyer Ricky Umar said on Wednesday.

He identified his five clients as Darmawan Hidayat, Jamsari,
Enoh, Jakaria and Iman.

"I met with Pak Nurfaizi early last month and asked him to
immediately issue letters of recommendation to stop the ongoing
investigation of my clients."

Ricky said that last December, Tangerang Police chief of
detectives Capt. Rachmad and two investigating officers, Sgt.
Prapto Laksono and Sgt. Maj. Sunardi, interrogated the five men
without the presence of their lawyer.

"The men were forced to admit to an outright lie, that they
forged signatures on land use permits in 1995... on threat of
being held in detention cells indefinitely.

"The men were so tired after hours of questioning, they just
said 'yes,'" he said.

Ricky said that in 1995, a man identified as Wiyanto Halim
lodged a complaint with the Tangerang Police that his signature
had been forged on land use permits, negatively affecting his
business dealings.

"The dossiers (on my clients) were time and again forwarded to
the Tangerang District Court, but the court returned them to the
police since the dossiers were always incomplete," Ricky said.

Verbal

The secretary to the Jakarta Police chief of detectives, Lt.
Col. Tjiptono, said the city police itself had not received the
complaint against the Tangerang Police.

"But it could be that (Ricky) verbally made the request that
the ongoing investigation be stopped ... to the Jakarta Police
chief.

"If the lawyer had actually made out a police report, I would
know about it," Tjiptono told The Jakarta Post. (ylt/41)