Political prisoners may get amnesty
Political prisoners may get amnesty
JAKARTA (JP): Attorney General Soedjono C. Atmonegoro said
yesterday he has written to President B.J. Habibie requesting
amnesty for noncommunist political prisoners and expected a
response by tomorrow.
Soedjono did not say when he made the suggestion that
political prisoners, other than those involved in the communist
coup attempt in 1960s, be freed, but said Habibie might decide on
the matter after leading the first cabinet meeting tomorrow.
Soedjono admitted he did not know the exact number of
political prisoners or how many would be pardoned.
Shortly after the resignation of president Soeharto on
Thursday, government critics such as Amien Rais and human rights
campaigners began calling for the release of political prisoners.
A group of 50 lecturers from the University of Indonesia were
among those who spearheaded the campaign, as were the parents and
relatives of activists currently jailed for subversion against
Soeharto's administration.
"We demand unconditional release of all political prisoners
jailed under Soeharto's administration and restoration of their
civil and political rights," the lecturers said in a statement
signed by, among others, human rights campaigner Todung Mulya
Lubis and psychology professor Saparinah Sadli.
Newly reappointed Justice Minister Muladi has already said he
would also seek the President's amnesty for political prisoners.
"I agree the government should now grant amnesty to political
prisoners, abolish their sentences, and rehabilitate them because
(definitions of) political crimes are very subjective in nature,"
Muladi said, reported Antara Friday.
The minister said his office would decide on whom to recommend
for release after consulting the new cabinet. But the plan, he
added, excluded people jailed for communist activities, including
figures linked to an abortive coup attempt by the Indonesian
Communist Party in September 1965.
Habibie, in his first national address Thursday, promised to
revise obsolete laws on political activity.
Political prisoners currently on trial or serving jail terms
include those arrested after a massive riot in Jakarta in July
1996 and members of the outlawed Democratic People's Party (PRD).
Wartono Karyo Utomo, father of PRD chairman Budiman
Sudjatmiko, and the parents of other PRD activists also issued a
call on Habibie to release their jailed children.
The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation estimated there were more
than 200 political prisoners in Indonesia, excluding alleged
communists.
Among the political prisoners listed are former legislator of
the United Development Party Sri Bintang Pamungkas, labor leader
Muchtar Pakpahan and Budiman Sudjatmiko.
Bintang, chairman of the outlawed Indonesian Democratic Union
Party, was sentenced to a 34-month imprisonment in May 1996 after
being convicted of insulting then president Soeharto during a
lecture at a German university a month earlier.
Pakpahan, chairman of the independent Indonesian Prosperous
Labor Union, was sentenced to a four-year jail term for allegedly
instigating a labor riot in 1994.
Budiman was sentenced to 13 years after being found guilty of
subversion in 1997 for discrediting the Soeharto's New Order
government. (prb/imn)