Lawyers demand police apology

YOGYAKARTA: Fourteen senior lawyers are demanding police chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo apologize to them for a remark they consider slanderous.

They are angry because Dibyo told the House of Representatives that they foiled the Dec. 9 reconstruction of journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin's murder.

The lawyers say the allegation is baseless.

"We want the police chief to apologize because he has hurt our dignity," they said. Lawyer Herman Abdurrahman demanded Dibyo resign.

The reconstruction flopped when Dwi Sumaji, the man the police accuse of killing the reporter in August, became frantic and refused to re-enact the murder. Marsiyem, the journalist's wife and the only eyewitness in the murder, was sick and unable to attend.

Critics say the police knowingly arrested the wrong man to cover up what actually happened. They believe the murder involved key local government officials angered at the journalists' investigative reporting on corruption. (23/pan)