Police officer jailed for beating

JAKARTA (JP): A police officer was sentenced to three years in jail and dismissed from the National Police on Tuesday afternoon for beating a student, which resulted in his death, in Bekasi, West Java, two years ago.

The Military Court found Second Adj.Insp. Makmur Sinuaji, a police officer with the Pekayon subdistrict police in Bekasi, guilty of fatally injuring Nasarudin, 19, who was accused of stealing a laborer's tool.

"This (the assault) should not have been conducted by a police officer," presiding judge Lt. Col. S. Djuariyah said.

Nasarudin was taken to the Pekayon police station on Oct. 7, 1999, after Endang Suryana, a construction laborer who was working near Nasarudin's house, accused him of stealing his measuring tape.

Makmur, who filed Endang's report, then severely beat and kicked Nasarudin. Makmur continued to assault Nasarudin as he dragged the suspect to a cell despite Nasarudin's pleas for him to stop.

In the cell, Makmur hit Nasarudin's head against the wall four times and hit him in his chest and abdomen until he could not stand up and he started throwing up blood.

On the next day, his mother, Aminah Iskandar, went to the police station and took him to Bulan-bulan hospital in Bekasi. A doctor there suggested that he be treated in the Cipto Mangunkusumo public hospital.

When Nasarudin's mother asked the police to take her son to the hospital, Pekayon subdistrict police chief, Adj.Comr. Heri Muntiarso rejected the request. Nasarudin was then sent to UKI hospital in East Jakarta for medical treatment.

Nasarudin died on Oct. 12, 1999. The autopsy report said that his abdomen was bleeding and his spleen was injured.

Earlier, prosecutor Lt. Col. Djodi Suranto had demanded the court sentence Makmur to five years in jail and dismiss him from the police force.

Upon hearing the verdict, Nasarudin's mother, Aminah, 51, immediately burst into tears and hugged her other son, who was also crying.

"I feel relieved by the verdict. I hope there won't be any similar cases in the future," she told The Jakarta Post.

Her lawyer, Taufik Basari from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), said that Nasarudin's family had also reported the case to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the House of Representatives and the National Police.

Meanwhile, Makmur insisted that he was not guilty and would appeal to a higher military court.(04)