One suspect in July riot 'not cooperative': Singgih
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)