'Mass graves excavation violates Criminal Code'
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The military has violated the country's Criminal Code by excavating mass graves in Aceh, an expert says.
Topo Susanto, a legal observer from the University of Indonesia's School of Law, said on Tuesday that despite the imposition of martial law, the martial law administration in Aceh did not have the power to impose martial law on civilians.
"Martial law applies to military personnel only while the Criminal Code applies to civilians, including alleged members of GAM," he said, referring to the separatist Free Aceh Movement.
Topo was asked to comment on the excavation of mass graves by military personnel in Aceh. Some experts have suggested that whatever evidence was found in these graves would now be inadmissible in a court of law.
Under the prevailing law, only the police, in the presence of forensic experts, have the right to excavate a mass grave.
According to Topo, the martial law administration should also use the Criminal Law Procedures Code to prosecute police officers responsible to manage the investigation.
"Under martial law, the military administration is allowed to do some of the jobs of the police, such as making some arrests. But they must later hand the suspects over to the police for further investigation as required by the Criminal Law Procedures Code. The police should then continue the investigation," he explained.
Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi, the director of the National Police's criminal investigation unit, declined to comment on the issue, only promising that the police would be present during any future excavations of mass graves in Aceh.
"Don't make a fuss about it. Don't let us blame each other. What is more important is that we will be present at any excavations in the future," he told reporters after a meeting with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
He defended military officers who excavated the graves without the presence of police officers, saying the police "could not easily reach the sites, which were far from villages and dangerous."
"They are also officials. If they didn't excavate the sites, the villagers would," Aryanto claimed.
Komnas HAM, which had earlier announced the finding of three possible mass graves in Aceh, has consulted with the police about their excavation.
M.M. Billah, who heads the commission's ad hoc team on Aceh, expected that the graves could be excavated next month.
According to the Criminal Law Procedures Code, the findings resulting from the excavation of a mass grave will only be legal and capable of being used in court proceedings if the excavation is conducted by both the police and forensic experts.
Komnas HAM has accused the military of destroying evidence by excavating the graves without the presence of police officers. Destroying evidence is a crime punishable by a jail term.
Aryanto said that the police could only carry out an excavation with the permission of the martial law administration in Aceh.