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 The two were in the Hyundai Elantra sedan driven by Zaenuddin, who had just withdrawn Rp 650 million from a BRI bank in Bogor.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)