Police to keep open mind about Marsinah case
Police to keep open mind about Marsinah case
JAKARTA (JP): The police force will be open minded in renewing the investigation into the murder of labor activist Marsinah and will use every piece of material evidence available to resolve the mystery of who killed her in May 1993.
National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman Astrosemitro said investigators will also use the findings on the case reported by the National Commission on Human Rights as a reference.
"I've ordered the East Java police chief to reopen the investigation, using every available bit of information, including that provided by the report from the human rights commission," he told reporters on Tuesday.
Gen. Banurusman said he is sending two of his top officers, the director of intelligence and the director of detectives, to assist the East Java Police with the investigation, Antara reported.
Police are reopening the Marsinah case in the wake of the Supreme Court's acquittal of all of the nine people who were earlier convicted by lower courts of the brutal murder.
The National Commission on Human Rights launched its own investigation last year when the court trials of the nine people were still under way.
The commission said in its report that it had indications that the authorities were trying the wrong people and that the real murderers could still be at large. The commission also found indications that torture had been used to extract incriminating statements from the defendants in the case.
The report, which was submitted to the Armed Forces, was largely ignored and the nine defendants were later convicted.
Marsinah's badly mutilated body was found in May 1993, only a few days after she led a workers' strike at PT Catur Putra Surya, the watch making factory near Surabaya where she was working. Her murder prompted an outcry domestically and abroad, with calls on the authorities to bring the killers to justice.
The nine people put on trial -- the director of the company, some top managers and security guards -- immediately became the prime suspects in the highly celebrated murder case. Police said the nine plotted the murder to put an end to Marsinah's activism once and for all.
The nine defendants denied all of the allegations and charged that the police tortured them during the investigation.
Seven of them walked out of Surabaya correctional institutions last week following the Supreme Court's ruling, regaining their freedom after 19 months. The only woman among the defendants had completed her seven months of imprisonment last year.
The director of the company, Judi Susanto, was released last November, after the East Java High Court overturned the lower court ruling finding him guilty of masterminding the murder.
Gen. Banurusman said he has not set any specific deadline for when the investigation should be completed.
Some murder cases are more difficult than others to solve, he said. "Reopening an old case is especially difficult. It's not as easy as turning over your hand. We must not be rushed. The main thing in our investigation is accuracy."
The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation said on Tuesday that to fully solve the mystery of the murder, the Marsinah case should be looked at in the overall context of the politics of labor in Indonesia.
The investigation should not be restricted to looking for the killer or killers, Hendardi, the foundation's director for communication and special programs, said.
The government has insisted that Marsinah's murder was purely a criminal case and had nothing to do with the labor conditions in the country.
Hendardi demanded that the police question two key witnesses, whose testimony led to the conviction of the nine defendants.
The two women, both domestic helpers working for Judi Susanto, testified in court that they saw Marsinah brought into his house, where she was kept locked in a room for three days. The two women have since disappeared. (emb)