Murder suspect's boss ready to lose his job

Murder suspect's boss ready to lose his job

BOGOR, West Java (JP): The superior of the main suspect in
Tjetje Tadjudin's death, yesterday said he was ready to take any
responsibility for his subordinate's actions.

Lt. Col. M. Ruslan Riza acknowledged he was under fire after
First Lt. DT was declared the chief suspect for torturing to
death robbery suspect Tjetje while he was in Bogor police
custody.

"I have no choice. I will accept any responsibility as DT's
superior," he said.

Ruslan was speaking after National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo
Widodo's said Lt. DT's superiors must also be responsible for
Tjetje's death.

Dibyo said from Paris on Saturday that DT's superiors were
responsible for Tjetje's lack of protection.

West Java Police Chief Maj. Gen. Nana Permana last week said
Lt. DT, the head of the Bogor police detectives, was the first
man responsible for Tjetje's death.

Tjetje and friend Norman Lubis were in police custody for
their alleged roles in an armed robbery in which their friend
Zaenuddin Lesmana was killed on Oct. 11.

Tjetje died on Oct. 21 on the way to the Bogor's PMI hospital
from the police lockup. First it was said he died from serious
respiratory problems. However, the postmortem report says Tjetje
was beaten to death.

Ruslan yesterday said he had felt strange since Tjetje's
death. "I have lost my appetite since then," he said. "Everything
is up to my superiors. What I am doing now is carrying out my
daily routine as well as I can," he said.

Yesterday, Maj. Gen. Nana Permana said from Bandung that as
Lt. DT's superior officer, he was ready to accept responsibility.

Nana said during his visit to daily newspaper Pikiran Rakyat's
office that direct responsibility was to the suspect. "Hopefully
any decision on punishment will be announced this week following
reports from the fact finding team," he said.

He promised to reveal the team's findings. "We plan to
conceal nothing in this case. If a police officer is found guilty
in the death of Tjetje he will be punished," he said.

Meanwhile, Merdeka daily yesterday quoted a Bogor Regency
Police source who said the police intended to sue the forensic
medical expert at Bogor's PMI hospital, Budi Sampurna, for
revealing autopsy results to the press.

Lawyer Petrus Bala Pattyona told the Post yesterday that this
was not possible.

Petrus, who used to work at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute
and is now with Ruhut Sitompul and Associates, said a post-mortem
report, as part of evidence, was open to the public in line with
the universal principle of an open and fair trial.

Article 184 of the Criminal Code cites a number of material
evidence including "letters of proof (bukti surat)," and this
includes such a report.

Evidence stated in Article 184 includes testimonies of
witnesses, experts, and letters.

"Going to court about a doctor revealing a visum is tantamount
to an effort to shift the core of the case," Petrus said.
Tjetje's death is now the center of public attention as it
involves allegations of torture by protectors of the public,
Petrus said.

If the case goes to court, "the police had better be ready to
face embarrassment" as testimonies could further reveal the
allegations, he said.

If revealing the report has caused investigation difficulties
this still does not justify a law suit, he said. "The doctor is
not guilty".

The source said the results were conveyed to parties besides
the police without police permission. The family of the late
Tjetje also got the results.

As an autopsy can only be conducted with the victim's family's
permission, the family is fully entitled to the post-mortem
reports, Petrus said. (21/17/sur/anr)