Police confident Balinese will not seek vengeance

Police confident Balinese will not seek vengeance

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The police here assured on Monday that the Balinese people would
not take vengeance against suspects of the Oct. 12 deadly bomb
blasts that claimed almost 200 lives and injured more than 320
others.

"Based on a police intelligence report, there is no indication
throughout the province that the Balinese will take the law into
own their hands regarding the suspects," Bali Police spokesman
Adj. Sr. Comr. Yatim Suyatmo announced.

He said local people, mostly Hindu adherents, were committed
to adopting a peaceful approach to deal with the blasts despite
the fact that the tragedy had seriously affected tourism, which
most local people rely on for a livelihood.

The Balinese have pledged to help the police ensure security
for the bombing suspects should they be tried in Denpasar,
Suyatmo said, referring to a recent demonstration by the People's
Representatives Council (DPM) and other local non-governmental
organizations.

The DPM, a pressure group comprising thousands of members
across the province, last week marched to the Bali Police
Headquarters to demand that the trials of Amrozi, Imam Samudra
and other bombing suspects be held in Denpasar.

It further threatened to create public disorder in Bali if the
demand was not heeded by the authorities.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Barman Zahir assured in
Jakarta over the weekend that all the Bali bombing suspects would
be tried at the Denpasar District Court because Bali was the site
of the incident.

He said the government was focusing on preparing prosecutors
and judges for the trials in Denpasar.

I Ketut Yona, head of the Bali Prosecutor's Office, said on
Friday that he had established a team of at least 21 prosecutors
to handle the high-profile bombing case.

Yona and Suyatmo agreed that the trials should be held in
Bali, saying there was no legal reason to move the trials to
another province given that security and order on the resort
island remained conducive.

Police have detained Amrozi and Imam Samudra as well as many
other people linked to the two leading suspects. However, only
Amrozi has been brought to Bali and is currently being held at
the provincial police headquarters.

Samudra, the alleged mastermind of the bombings, is being
interrogated in Jakarta concerning his alleged involvement in
previous bomb explosions across the country and will likely be
flown to Bali later this week, according to the police.

Police detectives have said a number of investigators have
been appointed by Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Budi Setyawan to
grill Samudra after his arrival in Denpasar.

The investigators are different from those quizzing Amrozi but
are grouped in one team led by Insp. Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika,
the detectives said.

Suyatmo further said the Bali Police had prepared between 25
and 35 cells to accommodate high-profile suspects charged with
terrorism. "We have checked the cells and repaired some of them
to tighten security," he added.

He said the police had emptied the cells, which had been
occupied by ordinary criminal suspects who were moved to
detention rooms at the city police office in Denpasar.

Both Amrozi and Samudra are being detained under the new
terrorism regulation that allows the police to hold them for six
months before putting them on trial.