Legislators query detention of Megawati's supporters

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives questioned Tuesday alleged arrest procedure violations of supporters of ousted Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chief Megawati Soekarnoputri, weeks after they were already freed from jail.

Legislators from House Commission III for legal affairs held a meeting with chief of the Central Jakarta Prosecution Office Basrief Arief, and asked him why the PDI activists had been detained in ways which violate the law.

The legislators said the activists had been sentenced to less than five years in jail. Most of them were given sentences which equaled their detention periods, so that they became free as soon as the verdict was handed down.

"They shouldn't have been detained before the case was heard in court," one of the legislators said.

Last month, 124 supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri were jailed by the court to between one month and four months imprisonment for their role in a riot in July.

This is against the Procedures of the Criminal Law, which stipulates that only those who face a possible jail term of more than five years can be detained, said Handjojo Putro, a legislator of the PDI faction.

Basrief, however, said the PDI activists were charged under more than one section of the Criminal Code and were detained under Section 170, which carries a maximum five years and six months in jail.

"But," he said, "the charge was not proven in court because some witnesses changed their minds during the court hearings."

Their testimony was very different from earlier statements they made before the police interrogators, Basrief said.

"The defendants were only proven guilty of violating Section 218 of the Criminal Code, which carries a more lenient sentence," he said.

The supporters of Megawati were arrested at the party's headquarters during the July 27 riot, which was provoked by a forcible takeover of the building by supporters of Soerjadi, the new party chairman chosen in a government-backed congress in June.

The legislators also questioned why so many witnesses had withdrawn their statements made to police interrogators.

"Was that because police officers used coercion to extract confessions?" asked another House member.

The legislators also asked how often such reversals had taken place.

Basrief said that the trend was less than 10 percent of all the cases sent to court.

"Of course there was psychological pressure. It is quite natural because when a person is summoned by the police he or she usually has feelings of being pressured," he said.

During the meeting, the House members also asked how successful the prosecution has been in hunting for the assets of Eddy Tansil, a businessman jailed for 20 years for swindling Rp 1.3 trillions (US$5.4 billion) of state-owned Bank Pembangunan Indonesia. With the help of prison officers, Tansil managed to escape from Cipinang jail in May. (05)