Military files dossiers on Nipah case
Military files dossiers on Nipah case
SURABAYA (JP): Chief of the Brawijaya Regional Military Command Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo presented to the military tribunal yesterday dossiers on the soldiers allegedly responsible for the 1993 deaths of four villagers of Nipah, Sampang, East Java.
Chief of the East Java police Maj. Gen. Roesmanhadi also presented to chief of the tribunal Lt. Col. Yamini, the dossier on a police officer suspected of having been involved in the case.
The trial of the three soldiers, including the former commander of Banyuates military resort, 2nd Lt. Djakfar Sudjak, and the police officer will be held soon. "The sessions will be open to the public," Imam Utomo said.
Another figure widely suspected of involvement in the incident, former Sampang regent Bagus Hinayana, will probably go to court only as a witness.
"He'll be summoned if it's considered necessary," Imam said.
Three men and a woman from the village on Madura Island were killed in Sept. 1993 when troops opened fire on locals protesting against a government team measuring land to be appropriated for a reservoir.
The planned dam, which is supposed to submerge 170 hectares of land belonging to some 240 families of farmers, is expected to irrigate over 1,000 hectares of rice paddies. The project was shelved in the wake of the incident.
The dossiers said that there will be 18 witnesses, nine of whom are the Armed Forces's experts on weaponry. The remaining nine are the villagers.
Imam said it took the military three years to complete the dossiers because of the difficulties in finding witnesses among the local people. "Only after some religious leaders approached them did some people come forward," he said.
Munir of the Surabaya office of the Legal Aid Institute rejected Imam's statements. He said his office had received complaints about the incident since the beginning.
"Many of them have long expressed willingness to give testimony in court. They have been demanding that the trials be held soon," he said. "The legal aid office could have provided the court with 20 witnesses."
Meanwhile, villagers are protesting that despite the government's decision to cancel the appropriation project, the local authorities are still proceeding with topographic measurements. (15/swe)