Man claiming Bali bombing role declared sane: Police
Man claiming Bali bombing role declared sane: Police
I Wayan Juniartha and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post,
Denpasar, Bali
Suharyanto, a man who surrendered to police claiming that he
became involuntarily involved in the deadly Oct. 12, 2002 Bali
bombing, has been declared mentally stable by a psychiatrist,
police announced here on Monday.
"The head of the Bali Police psychiatric unit has said that
following observations and interviews, the said person is
mentally stable," Bali Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Yatim
Suyatmo said as quoted by Agence France-Presse.
He said a psychiatric assessment had been ordered for
Suharyanto alias Muklas Ardi because it was rare for people to
surrender voluntarily to police.
"Moreover, his testimony did not correlate with what other
suspects have been saying," he added.
Suharyanto was sent for psychiatric assessment for a few hours
on Saturday, one day after he arrived at the Bali Police
headquarters from Klaten, Central Java.
He had given himself up to the Klaten Police last Wednesday,
claiming he had carried explosives to Bali for the Oct. 12
bombing that killed more than 190 people.
Klaten is the town where Mukhlas, alias Ali Ghufron, one of
the key suspects in the bombing, and several other suspects were
arrested earlier this month.
But Suharyanto told police investigators he did not recognize
the 15 people suspected of playing a role in the bomb attack.
Police have named Imam Samudra, who led the group of at least
15 suspected bombers, as the mastermind of the Bali blasts, which
they linked to the regional Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist
network.
Suharyanto's account has raised speculations that there may
have been other plotters outside the Samudra-led group, who also
had a role in the devastating bombing.
Suharyanto could not determine what explosives he claimed to
have carried to Bali. Nor was he clear whether they included RDX,
a high explosive, that was discovered at the blast site in Kuta,
Bali.
Samudra and another suspect Amrozi told police they had used
TNT to bomb Paddy's Cafe and Sari Club, denying any knowledge of
RDX.
The police have been praised by many for achieving
breakthroughs in investigating the Bali bombings, but others
still doubt that suspects like Samudra and his accomplices were
behind the huge plot.
Analysts and bomb experts have urged the investigators to find
the sources of high explosives used for the Bali blasts so as to
uncover the tragedy thoroughly.
Meanwhile, chief investigator Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika
said on Monday the police would begin next week to submit at
least six case files of the 15 detained bombing suspects to
prosecutors to prepare formal charges.
Amrozi, who has been under arrest since Nov. 5, will be the
first suspect whose case file is expected to be prepared for
submission on Jan. 6, 2003, Pastika told a news conference at the
Bali Police headquarters in Denpasar.
"I hope that starting from Jan. 6, we will be able to hand
over at least one dossier per week to prosecutors. That's our
target," Pastika said.
He said the case files of the four prime suspects -- Amrozi,
Samudra, Mukhlas alias Ali Ghufron, and Hernianto -- would be
filed separately.
The police were also preparing two dossiers for the other 11
suspects considered to have assisted the key four; Abdul Rauf
alias Sam, Andi Hidayat alias Agus, Andri Oktavia alias Yudi,
Junaedi alias Amin, Najib, Makmuri, Wibowo, Herlambang, Abdul
Hamid, Saeful Suroso and Masykur Abdulkadir.
Pastika also said the investigators were waiting for the
arrival of an Australian computer expert to team up with his
Indonesian counterpart to open the laptop belonging to Imam
Samudra.
"I want the laptop opened and examined as soon as possible. I
have just asked Samudra's investigators to contact experts from
Jakarta and Australia so they can come to Bali immediately," he
said.
He could not say when the experts would arrive to open the
laptop believed to contain data on Samudra's correspondence
with his accomplices.