Police chief angry at Tjetje's death

Police chief angry at Tjetje's death

PARIS (JP): National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo says
that not only First Lt. DT is responsible for the death of Tjetje
Tadjudin while in Bogor police custody, but also his superiors.

Dibyo, who is on an official trip to Europe, said here on
Saturday that the torturing of the suspect happened because of
lax control on his superiors' part. "Proper interrogation and
proper protection of a crime suspect in custody are standard
procedure the Bogor Regency police officials apparently failed to
observe. DT's superiors will be held responsible for this," he
said.

Dibyo and several police generals, including Jakarta
Metropolitan Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, were on a trip
to several European countries after attending an Interpol meeting
in Antalya, Turkey.

Tjetje, who died last Monday, was one of two suspects arrested
for an armed robbery on the Jagorawi turnpike on Oct. 11. The two
were in the Hyundai Elantra sedan driven by Zaenuddin, who had
just withdrawn Rp 650 million from a BRI bank in Bogor. Zaenuddin
was shot dead by one of the three robbers who drove up in a
Kijang. Police believe that Tjetje and Norman were accomplices of
the robbers.

Bogor Regency Police Chief Col. Dadang Garnida initially said
Tjetje died of respiratory problems.

But sources at the PMI Hospital in Bogor said Tjetje looked
like he had been beaten black and blue when his body was brought
in. The postmortem report also indicates that Tjetje died of
injuries resulting from torture.

On Friday, West Java Police Chief Maj. Gen. Nana Permana
announced that Tjetje died due to brutal battering while in
custody. Nana declared that DT, the head of the Bogor Regency
police detectives, was the first to be held responsible for the
death of Tjetje. Two sergeants are also in intensive questioning
in connection with the case.

Dibyo branded the torturing of Tjetje "a stupid thing that
must have been done by stupid officers."

"I am very angry about the suspect's death," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Dibyo is also enraged that the Bogor Regency Police had not
yet reported the fatal toll road robbery or the arrest of Tjetje
and Norman. "This cannot be forgiven. This is another violation
to procedure," Dibyo said.

"The death of Tjetje is like a slap in our face, and it also
means we lost a key witness," he said.

In Bandung, the fact finding team set up by the Agency for the
Coordination of Support for the Development of West Java
Provincial Stability (Bakorstanasda) has acknowledged that
procedural errors were made in the death of Tjetje.

West Java's Siliwangi Military Commander, Maj. Gen. Tayo
Tarmadi said on Saturday that the team, led by Col. Prang Hadi
Santoso, found that investigators questioned the suspect in an
unprofessional way, Kompas reported yesterday.

Tayo Tarmadi acknowledged that the Bogor military police had
"borrowed" Tjetje for questioning. "Yes. Because the policemen
found an Army ID in his wallet. But the military police did
everything according to procedure," he said.

In a related development, National Military Police Commander
Brig. Gen. Syamsu D told Antara in Jakarta on Saturday that he
had told his subordinates to expedite the questioning of the
suspects, Lt. DT and the two sergeants.

"We want the dossiers to be sent to the military tribunal
soon. The tribunal will decide whether or not they are guilty."

The suspect, Lt. DT, graduated from the police academy in
1991. The unmarried officer was asked to head up Bogor police
detectives only two months ago. "He was in Cimahi, West Java
before being moved to Bogor," one Bogor police officer said, who
refused to be named. (bsr/17/sur/21)