Police accused of abusing students
Police accused of abusing students
JAKARTA (JP): The police physically abused two student
activists arrested during a demonstration protesting the recent
fuel price hike, their lawyer told a court here on Wednesday.
Heppy Sebayang, the lawyer, said during the trial of the two
students that several police officers had violated the students'
human rights during their arrest, questioning and detention.
Mixilmina Munir, 22, a leader of the Jakarta students' City
Forum (Forkot), and Aris Wardoyo, 25, a member of Forkot, were
being tried in the South Jakarta District Court for violating
Article 160 of the Criminal Code on inciting disorder. The
offenses were alleged to have taken place during a Forkot
demonstration on June 16.
Sebayang remarked that several police officers slapped both
defendants when they refused to answer questions during
questioning.
"There are human rights violations involved in this case," he
asserted.
He also said that the indictments were inaccurate and
incomplete as they failed to specify the precise time and place
of the alleged crime.
Mixil and Aris said in their respective defenses that they had
never incited disorder as alleged by public prosecutor Lukimanto.
"We reject the indictment as we are innocent," they said.
They also quoted the words used by the late Baharuddin Lopa
(former attorney general) who said: "We must uphold justice even
if the sky is falling down."
Judge Abdul Majid Rahim adjourned the trial until next week to
hear further prosecution arguments.
Before the trial started, some 200 students from Forkot and
the Jakarta Network (Jarkot) staged a rally on JL. Ampera Raya
outside the courthouse in support of their colleagues, causing a
traffic jam.
They displayed banners reading "Free our friends" and "Dismiss
the National Police chief, provincial police chief and the state
prosecutor."
The students then attended the hearing, during which they
clapped their hands and launched interruptions, all of which
resulted in the proceedings becoming very noisy. (04)