Parents, son await execution

SAMPANG, E.Java: The East Java police are preparing a 90- member firing squad for the execution of two parents and their son convicted of murdering Lt. Col. Purwanto.

The convicts will be executed now that their plea for clemency has been rejected by President Soeharto.

The three convicts, Prayit, his wife Sumiarsih and their son Sugeng, will be taken to different sites and executed by a 30- member squad, said Maj. Gen. Roesmanhadi, Chief of the East Java police on Tuesday.

"However there might be changes in the plan. We cannot determine the time yet...the official announcement will come from the (East Java) High Prosecutor's Office," he said as quoted by Antara

The President's clemency rejection was received by the Surabaya District Court on July 24, and was then passed on to the Prosecutor's Office.

The convicts were sentenced to death on Feb. 20, 1989, for the slaying of Lt. Col. Purwanto and four members of his family, to whom they owed Rp 37 million (US$16,500).

Prayit is reportedly ill at the Kalisosok prison in Surabaya. Sumiarsih is spending the rest of her days at the Women's Prison of Lowokwaru, Malang and Sugeng is in the Nusakambangan prison in Central Java. (anr)