Police trial opens for Tasikmalaya riot
BANDUNG (JP): The trial of four former police officers whose alleged mistreatment of a local Moslem teacher caused the Dec. 26 fatal riot in Tasikmalaya, West Java, began yesterday.
The four -- Nursamsi, a 37-year-old police chief corporal, Agus Yulianto, Dedi Haerudin, and Agus Martadinata, all 23-year- old police second sergeants -- were dishonorably discharged from the force early last month.
The former officers were being tried at the Priangan II-09 military tribunal. Military prosecutor Col. CHK Ismail Bangun accused the four of mistreating Mahmud Farid, the principal of Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) Riyadul Ulum Wadda'wah, and two students: Endang Rachmat and Abdul Rachman, at the Tasikmalaya police precinct on Dec. 23.
The abuse triggered public anger, which led to the Dec. 26 rioting that killed four and left dozens of buildings, including churches and a Buddhist temple, burned or damaged. The vandalism caused an estimated Rp 84 billion worth of damage.
The four suspects stood at the ready as they listened to the charges being read out. They were represented by two lawyers from West Java police.
It was revealed in court that Nursamsi first reported to his superior, Second Lt. Kurnia Zaenal, that his teenaged son Muhammad Riza, who is a student in the boarding school, had been hit by two seniors, Habib Hamdani Ali and Ichsan, for stealing money.
Nursamsi then summoned Mahmud Farid to the police station, where Nursamsi and his colleagues beat up Makmud Farid and two students who accompanied him, then stripped and forced them to do squat jumps.
Mahmud Farid and his students later sought medical treatment at the Tasikmalaya Public Hospital where H. Tata Rachman, the head of the emergency unit, treated them for bad bruising all over their bodies.
The prosecution said Nursamsi and his colleagues violated articles 351 and 352 of the Criminal Code. The prosecution will present eight witnesses at the trial.
Judge Col. CHK Pakpahan adjourned the trial until tomorrow.
Nursamsi and his colleagues were dismissed in a ceremony led by West Java Police Chief Maj. Gen. Nana Permana who removed their insignias and uniforms.
According to the official dismissal letter, the four officers had violated officers' discipline in doing their jobs, with an error that led to the riot.
In a separate process, four civilians have been named suspects in the riot. Head of the West Java Prosecutor's Office, M. Adenan, said early last week that four people -- identified only as AGS, 24, AM, 24, MH, 24 and AF, 25 -- might be charged with subversion for instigating the riot.
Under Indonesian law, subversion is punishable by death. (ahy/swe)