One suspect in July riot 'not cooperative': Singgih

JAKARTA (JP): The official investigation of 13 suspects in connection with the July 27 riots in Jakarta has slowed down because one of them is refusing to answer questions, Attorney General Singgih said yesterday.

Singgih singled out Garda Sembiring as the "uncooperative" suspect in the investigation.

Speaking to reporters after installing a new spokesman for his office, the attorney general said he was still hopeful the investigation would be completed by November.

Sembiring, a law student, is one of 13 people formally charged with subversion in connection with the July riots, which left at least four people dead.

He is the leader of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Student's Solidarity for Democracy organization, which is affiliated to the Democratic People's Party (PRD), which the government accuses of masterminding the riots.

Eleven other suspects are members of the PRD, and the 13th is labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.

All the suspects are being detained at the Attorney General's Office.

Subversion carries the maximum penalty of death.

Yesterday, lawyers defending the suspects blamed the investigation's delay on the government's failure to respect the suspects' rights.

Dwiyanto Prihartono of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute said that Sembiring had refused further interrogation because he had not received copies of his previous statements as required by the Criminal Code Procedure.

These documents, which could be used by the prosecutors in building their case, should be given to the suspects and their lawyers to prepare their defense, he told The Jakarta Post.

"None of the other suspects have received copies of their statements," Dwiyanto said.

Relatives and lawyers have been allowed to visit the suspects, but priests offering spiritual guidance have not been allowed to visit, he said.

Ten priests -- Moslems, Protestants and Catholics -- have tried to visit the suspects, but they were denied access, he said, adding that the team of lawyers had been seeking a Hindu priest for one of the suspects.

Singgih rejected accusations that the suspects' rights have been denied, insisting that the arrests and the investigations complied with Criminal Code Procedure.

The attorney general yesterday appointed Suhartoyo as his new spokesman. Suhartoyo was formerly an intelligence assistant at the Yogyakarta Prosecutor's Office.

The previous spokesman, Pontas Pasaribu, has been assigned to the Surabaya High Prosecutor's Office as an assistant for civil and state administration cases. (16)