Police deny charges of unlawful arrest
Police deny charges of unlawful arrest
JAKARTA (JP): City police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman
asked the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday to drop a
lawsuit filed by six suspects in the April 15 foiled robbery
attempt and bomb blast in West Jakarta.
Noegroho, represented by lawyer Burhanudin, told the court
that his men had met the existing procedures while conducting the
arrest of the suspects a day after the blast.
The police officers assigned to apprehend the suspected
criminals, he insisted, were already equipped with warrants.
"We've conducted (the arrest) according to procedure,"
Burhanudin said.
The lawyer also said that the lawsuit against the city police
chief should have been filed at the West Jakarta District Court
since the scene of the crime was on Jl. Hayam Wuruk in West
Jakarta.
But the police admitted that an investigation of the suspects'
houses at Warung Menteng village, Cijeruk district, in Bogor was
not secured with an approval letter from the local district court
as required by law, Burhanudin said.
"But the search of the houses was an emergency and it's
allowed by the Criminal Code Procedures," he said.
The lawsuit filed by the six men, identified as Edi Rochadi,
Taufik, Naiman, Edy Syaputra, Solehudin and Samsudin, was heard
at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday.
The plaintiffs, who were represented by lawyer M.H. Sinaga
from the Bogor-based Ampera Legal Aid Institute, asked the court
to order the city police chief to release them, saying that the
arrest was illegal.
The plaintiffs said the police officers, who arrested them at
their houses in Bogor, did not show any warrants.
Presiding Judge Sutan Mangun adjourned the trial until
Wednesday to hear the plaintiffs' response.
The plaintiffs are among 21 people arrested by police and
being detained at City Police Headquarters for their alleged
involvement in the crime.
The detainees claim to be members of Angkatan Mujahidin Islam
Nusantara (AMIN) group. Seven of the detained suspects are from
Jakarta.
Police have released on bail one of the men, identified as
Ichwan.
The blast rocked the three-story Hayam Wuruk Plaza shopping
center on Jl. Hayam Wuruk, smashing windows of at least four
shops in the complex.
A few minutes later, a robbery occurred at Bank Central Asia's
branch on Jl. Keamanan, West Jakarta, not far from the blast
scene.
During Monday's hearing, the spouses of the six suspected
criminals urged the police to release their husbands immediately
due to the improper arrest procedures. (jun)