Lawyers demand police apology

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)