Military tribunal to try other Trisakti suspects
Military tribunal to try other Trisakti suspects
JAKARTA (JP): National military police chief Maj. Gen. Djasrie
Marin hinted on Thursday that the Jakarta military tribunal would
soon try several city police personnel, who were allegedly
involved in the May 1998 Trisakti shooting incident.
"We have nearly completed the dossiers on those police
personnel. Hopefully, we can submit them to the military
prosecutors by the end of this month," the two-star general told
reporters after addressing a discussion on the incident in front
of Trisakti University in Grogol, West Jakarta.
He declined to reveal the number of police personnel to be
prosecuted nor whether Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel were
involved in the shooting incident, which claimed four student
lives and injured dozens of others.
"I cannot remember," he said after being pressed by reporters.
The military police have declared 18 Jakarta Police personnel
as suspects. Two of the 18 suspects were prosecuted at the
Jakarta Military Court in a two-month hearing which began in June
1998.
The two officers, First. Lt. Agus Tri Heryanto and Second Lt.
Pariyo, were sentenced to 10 months and 4 months respectively for
breaching police discipline.
However, the hearing for other suspects was suspended in the
absence of the results of a series of ballistic tests on the
bullets which were found in two dead students. The tests were
conducted by the National Police central forensic laboratory
(Puslabfor), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and state
military equipment producer PT Pindad.
Both ITB and Pindad concluded that the firearms used by the
personnel were a Steyr AUG and an SS-1 rifle.
The results of Puslabfor's ballistic tests last year have not
been disclosed.
However, a joint team comprising members from Trisakti
University, national military police headquarters, ITB, Pindad
and Puslabfor, began a series of foreign trips in Sept. 1998 in
order for the forensic tests be carried out by foreign
institutions. The team took the bullets to some noted forensic
laboratories in Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong and Northern
Ireland.
Djasrie said the latest trip was made to the Forensic Science
Agency in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last February.
"The results were the same as those from the other forensic
offices: that the bullets were from an SS-1 rifle and a Steyr-1
AUG gun," he said.
Djasrie dismissed the allegations that the investigators had
been sluggish in revealing the results.
"We should be careful in determining the kind of weapons used
by the personnel. The facts will be useful in disclosing the
truth behind the incident to the military court judges," he said.
The May 12 shooting incident led to a massive anti-Soeharto
(former president) rally two days later, creating a three-day
riot in the capital.
Soeharto announced his resignation on May 21. (asa)