Police call for more time in murder probe

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)