Police question Oki over LA triple murder
Police question Oki over LA triple murder
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Police expanded their interrogation yesterday of Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, over the Los Angeles triple murder.
Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto told reporters that the investigation, which had been confined to allegations of passport forgery, had now been expanded to include the murders.
Oki, 30, is wanted by the Los Angeles police in connection with the murders of a young Indonesian woman, Gina Sutan Aswar, his brother Eri Tri Harto Darmawan, and an Indian businessmen.
Their decomposed bodies were found in a storage locker in August and only identified in December. The Los Angeles Police Department issued a warrant for Oki's arrest, saying he was their main suspect.
Hindarto said the Jakarta Police want to ask everyone that could shed some light on the murder to come forward. Those who had already given statements to the Los Angeles police will be asked to confirm their statements.
The police have written to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to send over documents to help with the murder investigation.
Two American detectives are expected to come to Jakarta this week to assist in the investigation amidst increasing signals that the Indonesian authorities will insist that Oki be tried in Jakarta.
Indonesia and the United States have no extradition treaty.
Earlier, Gina's family asked for Oki to be handed over to the United States to face the charge, given that the Americans had already conducted most of the investigation.
After Gina's funeral on Friday, her brother, Syaiful Aswar, said that the family did not mind where Oki was tried as long as justice was done.
The Attorney General's Office had confirmed that the law permits an Indonesian court to try a citizen for a crime allegedly committed overseas.
Hindarto declined to say if Oki has denied or confessed to the murder charge. "We're searching not only for confessions, but material evidence as well," he said.
Los Angeles police say they have reason to believe that Oki was the last person to see Gina. To support this, they have a video from a short circuit camera showing Oki with Gina when the two were at the Los Angeles airport.
Gina was reported missing by her family on Nov. 2, 1992. She was last heard from when she boarded a flight a day earlier in Paris on her way to Los Angeles where Oki was supposed to have met her.
Gina's family questioned why the Jakarta Police were adamant to conduct the investigation when their Los Angeles counterparts had already done most of the work.
But Col. Nurfaizi, head of the Jakarta Police Criminal Investigation, said he did not see any problem in starting a new investigation although it could mean sending officers to the United States.
Nurfaizi said the decision was based purely on legal principle and that the Jakarta Police have no interests in defending Oki, if he is indeed guilty of murder.
"We're pursuing this case seriously," he said.
Whether Oki is tried in Jakarta or Los Angeles, he could face the death penalty if found guilty under either country's legal system, although the American law appears to be the harsher, legal experts state.
"If you were the suspect, what would you prefer: the electric chair or a firing squad?" a senior police officer, who requested anonymity, queried. He was referring to the execution methods in the United States and Indonesia respectively. (bsr)