Police told to get sharp with terrorism cases

Police told to get sharp with terrorism cases

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Wahyoe Boediwardana, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta/Denpasar

The rejection of the dossiers of the Bali bombing suspects showed
that the Indonesian police lack professionalism in dealing with
the terrorist attacks, observers say.

Legal experts T. Gayus Lumbuun, head of research and
development of the Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin), and Topo
Santoso of the University of Indonesia said on Friday that the
returning of suspects' dossiers reflected the police's
carelessness in handling the high-profile terrorism case.

"Police must be very diligent in filing the dossiers of
suspects in such a big terrorist case, even if it is the first
time police are dealing with terrorism," Gayus told The Jakarta
Post.

Topo said police had likely been too focused on the dossier of
Amrozi, the first Bali bombing suspect to be arrested, and paid
less attention to the remaining suspects, who were arrested
subsequently.

Last Thursday, the Bali Prosecutor's Office returned to police
the dossier of Abdul Azis, alias Imam Samudra, the alleged
mastermind behind the Bali attacks, due to a lack of evidence.

Head of the Bali Prosecutor's Office I Ketut Yona said on
Thursday that the dossiers of the 13 other suspects would also be
returned to police for revisions.

Earlier, the office had rejected the case file of key suspect
Amrozi and returned it to police for more evidence. The police
refiled the dossier, which was declared complete last Thursday,
and expect the case would soon go to court.

Prosecutors said on Friday that several evidence reports in
Samudra's dossier required legalization from relevant
authorities, while in the dossiers of the 13 other suspects, the
police needed to revise witnesses' statements in order to build a
strong against the suspects.

"The charges of the 13 suspects are different from those of
Amrozi and Imam Samudra, who were charged with masterminding the
Bali bombing.

"Therefore, the witnesses' statements regarding them should
not be similar to those on Amrozi or Samudra," said Assistant for
General Crimes Division at the Bali Prosecutor's Office I Ketut
Ardhana.

The returning of dossiers from the prosecutor's office to the
police is permitted by law.

Gayus said police must work harder to fulfill any demands from
the prosecutor's office, otherwise the charges against the
suspects would weaken.

"But if the police fail to realize the demand, the dossiers
must be returned to the prosecutor's office. The latter must then
fill in the dossier's shortcomings and submit it to court," he
said.

Gayus suggested that police set up a special team that was
skilled and knowledgeable in dealing with terrorism to prepare
the dossiers.

Topo, on the other hand, said police and prosecutors must
intensify discussions among them in order to establish a common
understanding about the returned dossiers.

Police must also include top legal experts who clearly
understood the details necessary in the dossiers' contents to
fortify the charges against the suspects, he added.