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)