Medan bombing suspects to face trial

Medan bombing suspects to face trial

Apriadi Gunawan and Ruslan Sangadji, Medan/Palu

Eight suspects in the January bombing incident in Medan, North
Sumatra, are expected to stand trial soon as police handed over
their case files to prosecutors on Monday.

The dossiers stated that the suspects -- Marzuki, Anwaruddin,
Syaifullah, Didin, Abdul Somad, Tengku Usman, Ridwan Botak and
Atekri -- were allegedly members of the rebel Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) for the Medan-Deli area.

The case files were presented by Medan police chief of
detectives Adj. Comr. Maruli Siahaan to Medan Prosecutor's Office
head of general crimes L. Tambunan.

Maruli told journalists that the dossiers contained evidence
on involvement of the eight suspects in the terror and that the
police also provided material evidence against them, such as
timers, pipes and wreckage of the exploded bomb.

Also handed over to the prosecutors were all eight suspects,
including Marzuki accused of masterminding the terror attacks.

The suspects were charged with a bomb blast at the Amplas bus
terminal on Jan. 5, and a bombing attempt in the Sukaramai
traditional market one day later. No casualties were reported in
the two incidents.

The motive behind the blast was merely to create a disturbance
among local residents, police claimed.

The homemade bomb planted at Sukaramai market did not explode
as it had been found by a vendor and was later defused by a
police bomb squad.

Lambunan, speaking after receiving the dossiers, promised to
present them to court soon after prosecutors studied whether the
case files were complete or not.

"We will immediately hand over the dossiers to court if they
are declared complete. Therefore, we need time to scrutinize
them," he said.

Separately in Central Sulawesi, hundreds of bullets found in a
storage shed at the home of National Mandate Party leader Luky
Lasahido for Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, were apparently
linked to a suspect, Madong, who was shot dead by police.

Luky's lawyer Ermas Cintawan claimed on Monday that the 300
rounds of ammunition belonged to Madong, who was blamed for the
Oct. 10, 2003 armed attack on Beteleme village in neighboring
Marowali regency, in which three people were gunned down at
random in the Christian village.

Ermas said seven sacks of sulfur, a component of some bombs,
which were also seized from Luky's shed belonged to an accomplice
of the local PAN leader, identified as Rafik.

A joint police and military force, which searched Luky's house
on Jl. Monginsidi in Bonesompe neighborhood, downtown Poso, for
sharp weapons, also found firearms and traditional weapons.

However, Luky denied any knowledge of the weapons and claimed
he had no idea how they had been stored at his house, although he
named Rafik as the owner of the sulfur.

Rafik was reportedly an accomplice of Madong. The latter was
shot dead in a shootout with police.

Both Luky and Rafik were transferred to the Central Sulawesi
police headquarters on Saturday from the Poso police station for
further investigations and formally declared suspects.