Police officer jailed for beating

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)