Over 12 police to go on trial

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: At least 13 police from Aek Nabara, Tolan and Kota Pinang will be tried by a military tribunal on charges of beating a bus driver to death last Friday.

Capt. Saudia of Labuhan Batu Military Police said Sunday the authorities would not tolerate the police officers' assault on the Pelangi bus driver, Teuku Lufti Hamzah.

Hamzah, 38, was beaten to death by the officers who accused him of trying to escape after cutting an off-duty police officer, Chief Sergeant A. Manurung, in a street fight.

Eyewitnesses said sergeant Manurung, who had been in civilian clothes, had ridden like a drunk on his motorcycle when Hamzah had blown his bus horn to make him give way. The sergeant had then stopped the bus, smashed its windshield and attacked Hamzah's assistant driver, Jauhari.

Hamzah then got down from the bus and slashed the officer with a knife before driving away. Two hundred meters down the road, over a dozen officers stopped the bus and beat Hamzah to death, according to eyewitnesses.

After the bus had been seized, Rp 500,000 (US$204) in cash and a tape recorder had gone missing, Antara reported. (pan)