Police send Tampubolon dossiers back to the prosecutor's office

JAKARTA (JP): Police have returned the dossiers on the four men accused of killing Brig. Gen. TMF Tampubolon to the prosecutor's office with minor revisions and flatly rejected newspaper reports that the originally submitted documents lacked vital information.

"We have already handed them back over to the prosecutor's office ... a few days ago," East Jakarta Police Precinct Chief Lt. Col. Susmono Soesilo told reporters here over the weekend.

Susmono denied news reports that the prosecutor's office had earlier sent the dossiers back to the police because they were missing information vital to the coming court trial.

"There were only two missing elements in the dossiers, but they were not substantial things as reported by the media," said Susmono.

He explained that the police simply forgot to send photographs of the suspects in the dossiers and that one of suspects had not yet signed his dossier.

Early last week, the East Jakarta prosecutor's office returned the dossiers to the police, saying that they were missing basic items.

By law, only completed dossiers will be accepted for trial by the prosecutor's office.

Commenting on the issue, City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto said over the weekend: "Such a problem is a common thing in the juridical process and isn't in violation of the law."

Prosecutor Bonar Gultom from the East Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, who is in charge of criminal affairs, said last week the dossiers on the four suspects needed review because information essential to the prosecutions case was missing.

Gultom declined to reveal what was missing, saying it is unethical to give information to the press.

He did say that the dossiers would be divided into three sets of charges, which means the suspects will all face three separate trials.

"We have set up three teams to tackle the case," said Gultom.

Hot tempers

Earlier, police sources, quick to dispel theories of conspiracy, had claimed the early completion of the dossiers was proof that there was nothing more to the murder than hot tempers and bad timing.

Hindarto said earlier that three of the four are believed to have stabbed Tampubolon, 54, after some sort of altercation on Jl. Griya Wartawan in East Jakarta at 10 p.m. on April 6.

"We found another knife hidden inside a septic tank at one of the suspect's hideouts," said Hindarto, adding that this has led the police to conclude that three of the suspects delivered fatal blows.

The three allegedly used a bayonet, a machete and a knife to stab Tampubolon, while the other assisted. Tampubolon was a former group commander for one of the Armed Forces' (ABRI) four elite red beret Kopassus squads.

Tampubolon was stabbed 11 times and died half an hour later at the nearby UKI hospital.

Based on Article 338 of the criminal code, a murderer faces a maximum sentence of 15 years.

The four, arrested about six and a half hours after the murder, are Rusdi Abdul Rahman, 24, Hendrik Setyawan, 25, Rudiyanto, 24, and Lukman, 30.

Rusdi, a security guard at a house close to the scene, was believed to have stabbed Tampubolon with a bayonet while Hendrik, a construction worker, gashed the general with a machete.

A reliable police source close to the investigation of the case said last week that Lukman, a local ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver, was the one who helped his friends but did not use a knife.

"The killing was purely a common accident where four people walking home from a billiard center shouted hastily and loudly to the driver of a car whom they believed had brushed against them," the source said.

The four were walking at the edge of the narrow road.

According to the police the general heard their curses and turned his car back to confront them. This escalated into a heated argument and ultimately the killing.

The killing occurred at about five minutes after Tampubolon received a call from an unidentified party and hurriedly left his house at the nearby Army housing complex. (bsr)