'Police responsible for Bogor detainee's death'

'Police responsible for Bogor detainee's death'

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) says
the death of a robbery suspect in Bogor police custody must be
thoroughly investigated.

The foundation's operational secretary, Munir, said Cece
Tajudin was a police detainee so anything that happened to him
was the police's responsibility.

Cece, a father of three, and friend Norman Lubis, were accused
of being involved in a fatal robbery on the Jagorawi toll road on
Oct. 11.

They were detained after being questioned over the robbery of
Zaenuddin Lesmana, who was in the same car as them when the
robbery occurred. The two suspects told police they accompanied
Zaenuddin, a private firm employee, from the Bogor BRI bank where
he withdrew Rp 650 million. They said a Kijang van intercepted
their car, and three men, one of them with a gun, jumped out of
the van. Cece and Norman said the armed man smashed the rear
windshield of Zaenuddin's Hyundai sedan then shot Zaenuddin.

The robbers stole Rp 350 million from the trunk of Zaenuddin's
car.

Police were suspicious because Cece and Norman, who sat in the
rear seats, were unhurt, while the armed man shot Zaenuddin from
behind.

Cece told police the armed man, identified only as S, an Army
sergeant, was his friend.

Based on their statements, police detained them hours after
the shooting.

On Monday Bogor police chief Col. Dadang Garnida announced
that Cece was dead. He said the suspect died on the way to PMI
hospital from the police lockup.

According to Munir, the victim's wife said Cece's body was
bruised.

The doctor in charge of the postmortem agreed Cece's body was
bruised.

Dr. Budi Sampurno said parts of victim's body had been damaged
by hard objects.

Meanwhile, Head of the National Police Crime Investigation
Directorate, Brig. Gen. Rusdihardjo, told The Jakarta Post in
Antalya, Turkey, yesterday that Cece might have been brutally
battered while in police custody.

"I've just received this information from my staff in Jakarta
which made me really shocked and upset," said Rusdihardjo, who is
attending the week-long Interpol meeting.

"I've ordered the Bogor police to question everybody,
including the police members and those who had visited Cece,"
said Rusdihardjo.

Cece's body was buried in Bekasi, West Java, on Tuesday, under
tight security. Police who handed over the corpse told relatives
they could just bury the body and not open the cover. However,
Cece's mother insisted, to make sure it was her son's body. She,
along with some neighbors, uncovered the shroud and found Cece's
face was severely bruised.

One of the police officers, who had brought Cece's body, said
Cece suffered from serious illness. This conflicts with
statements from relatives and neighbors who said Cece was very
active in sports, like tennis and badminton. "We had never heard
that Cece was sick," neighbors was quoted by Kompas as saying on
Tuesday.

Lawsuit

Cece's relatives, seemed frightened of talking to the press
yesterday and refused to say if they would to file a lawsuit
against the police.

Toto Sugiarto, Cece's younger brother, who talked to the press
after Cece's Tuesday burial, was tight-lipped yesterday.

Reliable sources, close to the relatives, said Cece's
relatives would file a suit against the police with the
Administrative Court and send a complaint to the National
Commission on Human Rights.

Earlier, relatives said they received no warrants from the
police about Cece's arrest. They said Cece had been transferred
to the military police lockup. Bogor police sources confirmed
this.

Munir, of YLBHI, said Cece's death showed how poor suspect
protection was. "According to the criminal code, a detainee
should be free from any kind of threat, violence and unlawful
arrest and detention as presumption of innocence must be
performed".

"As investigators, police are expected to stick to the code of
ethics," Munir said.

Col. Dadang Garnida vowed on Tuesday to take stern action
against any of his subordinates who violated the law and caused
Cece's death.

He said he had suspended the chief of Bogor's police
detectives and other officers over the case. "I will have all
unscrupulous officers punished," Dadang said. (team)