Poso killers get executed at X-mas

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The Central Sulawesi Police is gearing up for the execution of three convicts around Christmas time for their roles in dozens of murders in Poso.

The police chief, Brig. Gen. Oegroseno, said on Friday he had received a letter of request from the provincial prosecutor's office asking for a firing squad who would execute Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu, whose appeal for clemency has been denied by the President.

"We have not assigned personnel who will conduct the execution, but we have proposed that it take place after Christmas," Oegroseno said.

The lawyer representing the three death-row inmates has asked the police to investigate 16 other people that his clients claimed were involved in the Muslim-Christian conflict between 2000 and 2001, which claimed over 1,000 lives, before their execution was conducted.

Oegroseno said the police were taking the request into account, but insisted that it would not delay the execution.

The country has executed four people, three of them foreigners, since August 2004. -- Antara