Police chief insistts Soerjadi innocent
Police chief insistts Soerjadi innocent
JAKARTA (JP): Amid unabated accusations of favoritism, the police insisted Saturday that chief of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Soerjadi was not involved in the July 27 riots.
Jakarta city police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said Saturday said that Soerjadi, elected in a government-sanctioned congress in June, would not be prosecuted without new evidence.
"No one can force us to make someone a suspect without evidence," Hamami said as quoted by Antara on Saturday.
Hamami's comment was his second in two days in response to public inquiries about why the authorities do not prosecute the man who has admitted to having ordered the violent takeover of the PDI's headquarters and the removal of Megawati Soekarnoputri's supporters.
Megawati was democratically elected in an extraordinary congress in 1993.
The July 27 attack on the headquarters sparked mass rioting that led to at least five deaths. More than 100 people were injured.
Observers have criticized the authorities for being partial in their investigation into the takeover. Only Megawati's supporters were prosecuted.
The authorities brought 124 Megawati supporters to court on charges of violence and for disobeying a police order to clear the area before the headquarters was taken over.
Most of the defendants were sentenced to four months and three days in jail -- nearly the same length of time that they spent in police custody -- for disobeying the order to disperse. Eight others were acquitted of all charges, while another was jailed for one month and 10 days.
In a related development, President Soeharto has approved of the Attorney General's Office's request to question Soerjadi as a witness to the July 27 riot, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said on Friday.
By law, a House of Representatives member, like Soerjadi, can only be questioned with the president's approval.
The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) accused the police yesterday of turning a deaf ear to the National Commission on Human Rights' findings that Soerjadi's supporters had committed violence.
The authorities have ignored the commission's recommendations that they investigate Soerjadi's supporters, the foundation said in a statement signed by its chief, Bambang Widjojanto.
The commission, in its findings on the riot made public last month, has called for Soerjadi and his supporters to be brought to court for taking over PDI headquarters.
Bambang also said that the police's partial attitude was obvious from the fact that it questioned only Soerjadi and failed to look for other possible "actors" behind the takeover.
As for the City Police, Megawati's team of defense lawyers has considered filing a lawsuit against Hamami over the police's findings.
R.O. Tambunan, coordinator of Megawati's lawyers, said on Friday that more than 100 witnesses could testify that Soerjadi was involved in the attack. The police, however, have not questioned them. (imn)