Murder retrial gets military support

Murder retrial gets military support

SURABAYA (JP): East Java Military chief Maj. Gen. Ryamizard
Ryacudu has promised to support those seeking a fresh inquiry
into the 1993 murder of labor activist Marsinah, provided the
campaign was not meant to be a "political ploy".

"I really want to see cooperation between the military and
police, so nothing will be covered up," Ryamizard told the media
here on Friday.

The commander said he did not know much about the case as he
was not here when it broke. He said he was never given any
special instructions from Indonesian Military chief Gen. Wiranto
on how to handle pressure from the case.

Different investigations by nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) invariably concluded the role of military personnel in the
murder.

The badly mutilated body of Marsinah, a worker at a wristwatch
manufacturer company in Sidoardjo, was found on May 8, 1993, in
the forest of Jati Wilangan, Nganjuk, some 150 km west of here.
The murder took place not long after she led a labor strike.

Following well-publicized investigations, the Sidoarjo Court
acquitted all those that the police accused of murder. It was
later revealed that confessions drawn from the defendants were
made under severe duress.

A number of activists, including playwright Ratna Sarumpaet,
recently took up a campaign to push for the case to be reopened.
Ratna staged on Tuesday a reenacting of the trial which featured
those involved in the actual one.

One of the acquitted defendants, Bambang Murdiono, recalled
the torture he suffered at the hands of the investigators.

"I was forced to admit that I had killed a woman. My mother
then suffered a heart problem, my son was ostracized by his
classmates and we had to move away. I was condemned by the
community," said Bambang as he held back tears. At the time, he
was a supervisor at the wristwatch factory.

"I was kicked, burned with cigarette butts and given electric
shocks on my genitals," he said. "I am still suffering from this
traumatic experience, but for the sake of justice I made myself
available for this show."

The play was set as a court proceeding and the audience of
hundreds of workers was allowed to give prompt responses to what
players were saying. The play will run until Aug. 22 and will
come to Jakarta on Aug. 28.

Other players include: Trimulya D. Soerjadi, a respected
Surabaya lawyer who defended Yudi Susanto, the main defendant and
owner of the factory; Richard, a lawyer for another employee of
PT Catur; witnesses Muhni Idris, Kadarusman and Tjuk K. Sukiadi.

Trimulya said his client was severely tortured into admitting
he was Marsinah's killer.

"Yudi was willing to say anything because he could not stand
the torture any longer. He would have confessed to killing a
thousand Marsinahs," he said.

Rights campaigner Pungky Indarti of Indonesian Legal Aid's
Surabaya office welcomed the campaign to spur reinvestigation,
but doubted it would do much good. She suspected parties in the
police, military and prosecution would instead find more
complicated ways to block the campaign.

Ratna said she planned to collect a million signatures and
take them on Sept. 3 to Gen. Wiranto in order to force the
government to find the real murderer of Marsinah.

Ratna first staged the play in July in Jakarta. It was the
first play on the labor activist's unsolved murder to have been
staged after a ban under the rule of former president Soeharto.
(nur/06)