Lhokseumawe's district court running amid continuing conflict

Lhokseumawe's district court running amid continuing conflict

Yogita Tahilramani and Edith Hartanto, The Jakarta Post,
Lhokseumawe, Aceh

Gazing through red-rimmed eyes at his empty desk, the chief of
the Lhokseumawe District Court Judge Arifin Sani says that he has
only one wish for the court.

"It should not get burned down like what they did twice to the
new court building in the past three years," Arifin said Monday.
"I urge the people of Lhokseumawe not to be afraid of filing
civil cases here."

Like the other three judges of the court, Arifin was appointed
on July 1 to mark the reopening of the Lhokseumawe district court
after it ceased to function in 1999.

The district court was formerly housed in an old 1970s
courthouse on Jl. Iskandar Muda, before it was moved to a new
building on Jl. Alue in the Muara Dua district of Lhokseumawe.
This new building has been burned down twice by unidentified
people since 1999. As a result, the court ceased to function for
three years.

Since its official reopening in July, the district court has
handled only 11 civil cases which were lodged years ago. No new
cases have been lodged since the arson attacks on the building.

According to Arifin, the capital of strife-torn North Aceh,
Lhokseumawe, is a city which may seem quiet but could explode at
any second.

"Days after I arrived I was awakened by the sound of
explosions, gunfire and of course, lights going out all over.
This is not a city you can go loitering about on the streets in
the evening," Arifin said.

The district court, like other district courts in Aceh, does
not try criminal cases for security reasons. The Aceh High Court
transfers all criminal cases in hotspot regions to the Banda Aceh
district court, the only court which handles such cases, in line
with a 2002 decree issued by the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights in Jakarta.

The decree lists Bireuen, Sigli, Jantho, Lhokseumawe and Lhok
Sukon as conflict areas.

Judge Rachmawati, another of the court's judges, said that the
majority of the criminal cases in Aceh involve people who
struggle with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for independence.

"The central government believes that these cases should
not be tried in Aceh's courts, unless it is in the Banda Aceh
district court. Even if a court outside Banda Aceh is
functioning, criminal cases are not tried there," Rachmawati
said.

"A whole village could burn and many could get killed
if a handful of individuals are not happy with a verdict issued
by courts outside of Banda Aceh," he claimed.

Arifin added that the North Aceh Police Precinct had recently
suggested that he write to Jakarta to ask if it was possible to
try criminal cases from Lhokseumawe in its district court again.

"The North Aceh Police notified me recently that it was a
burden for them to transfer every criminal case to Banda Aceh,
since security protection for the witnesses and the defendant was
costing the police Rp 2 million," Arifin said.

"Police officers here say that they will guarantee the
protection of witnesses and the defendants in Lhokseumawe. I have
yet to make a written request to the Supreme Court in Jakarta.
This courthouse in any case, is ready to try criminal cases. We
are not afraid."

Judge Muktabar said that Aceh's courts stopped functioning,
after the scrapping of the 10-year military operation in Aceh in
1998, in a desperately brutal, albeit futile attempt to crush the
spirit of the independence movement.

Conflicts and bloody clashes continue in Aceh, he said, and
nobody dares to file a lawsuit against anybody in Aceh.

Some district courts are functioning today in Aceh,
specifically in Banda Aceh, Lhokseumawe, Langsa, Blangkajeren,
Kutacane, Meulaboh, Sabang, Sinabang and Takengon.

Courts which do not function at all are in Bireuen, Sigli,
Calang, Idi, Jantho, Kuala Simpang, Lhok Sukon, Singkel and Tapak
Tuan.

"In addition, of course, many courthouses were burned down
throughout the province following the order to end the military
operation. Justice was totally paralyzed then and is hardly
working now," Arifin said.