Police call for more time in murder probe

JAKARTA (JP): Police called yesterday for more time and a "better climate" to continue their investigations into the August slaying of Yogyakarta-based journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafrudin.

Brig. Gen. Rusdihardjo, head of the National Police Crime Investigation Directorate, said here yesterday that police would follow up all suggestions from external parties in their investigation.

"But please give us time and a 'cool climate' to investigate the case," he said after attending the opening of the five-day International Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations (IFNGO) conference.

Rusdihardjo was responding to queries about the decision of Yogyakarta authorities last weekend to cancel the long-awaited reconstruction of the journalist's murder. This cancellation reportedly surprised National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo.

The reconstruction was scheduled for 10:30 p.m. on Friday. It was canceled without explanation at one o'clock the same afternoon. A lawyer for the murder suspect has said the police told him and his client, Dwi Sumaji, in the afternoon that the reconstruction was called off "for one reason or other".

They said the unexplained postponement supported their suspicions that police are uncertain whether Sumaji will be able to re-enact the crime because he did not do it.

Dibyo said he was of the opinion that the reconstruction would have to be held and should take public input into account.

The authorities planned the reconstruction only several days after their dossiers on Sumaji were rejected by prosecutors on the grounds that the evidence was too weak.

Rusdihardjo argued yesterday that the police called off the reconstruction because the provincial prosecutors office did not specifically ask for one to be held.

Rusdihardjo also said that police want the case to be solved as soon as possible. "All developments in relation to the case reach the public so fast that police sometimes feel overwhelmed..." he said.

He admitted that Yogyakarta police jumped too fast to conclusions regarding the suspected murderer. "The investigation hasn't yet been completed, but they have already drawn conclusions and submitted the dossiers to the prosecutors," he said.

In Yogyakarta, the provincial prosecutors office issued a detailed explanation yesterday about which areas in the dossiers they deemed incomplete. Head of the prosecutors' office Asrief Adam said police now should be able to improve their documents.

"I can't explain in detail because the document is confidential," he said but revealed that the incomplete areas were related to the testimonies of the suspected killer and the witnesses, and the evidence.

One of the lawyers for Dwi Sumaji, said he doubted police could improve the dossiers because his client, still in police detention, was no longer being questioned.

In Jakarta, Bambang W. Soeharto of the National Commission on Human Rights reaffirmed the body's stance that there had been violations of rights in the manner of Dwi's arrest.

"We believe violations occurred in the way the suspect was arrested, the way police collected evidence..and there was mental torture as well," he said.

Bambang said the rights commission believed that the police would eventually solve the murder in ways which would abide by the law. (23/swe)