PRD files Rp 5.5b lawsuit against 'Soeharto regime'
PRD files Rp 5.5b lawsuit against 'Soeharto regime'
JAKARTA (JP): The Democratic People's Party (PRD) filed a Rp
5.5 billion (US$617,000) lawsuit with the Central Jakarta
District Court on Wednesday against former president Soeharto in
connection with the July 27, 1996 violence on Jl. Diponegoro in
Central Jakarta.
The lawsuit also named as defendants: former Armed Forces
(ABRI) chief Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung, former Jakarta military
commander Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso, former ABRI chief of
sociopolitical affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, former police
chief Gen. (ret) Dibyo Widodo, former Army chief of staff Gen.
(ret) R. Hartono, former East Java military commander Maj. Gen.
(ret) Imam Utomo, former minister of home affairs Lt. Gen. (ret)
Moch. Yogie S. Memet, former ABRI Intelligence Service (BIA)
chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Syamsir Siregar, former BIA director Maj.
Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, former attorney general Singgih, former
justice minister Oetoyo Oesman and former information minister
Harmoko.
"These men called me and other PRD members communists, and
declared us the masterminds of the July 27, 1996, violence," PRD
chairman Budiman Soedjatmiko told reporters at the district court
after filing the lawsuit.
"They chased after us, tortured us, raided our PRD branches
and seized important party documents. The Soeharto regime slapped
me with 13 years imprisonment in 1997, based upon unsubstantiated
evidence and ludicrous accusations."
Budiman, whose party contested the June 7, 1999 elections, was
sentenced to 13 years in jail in 1997 by the Soeharto regime for
his alleged involvement in the July 1996 riot in Jakarta, which
followed a violent attack on the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) headquarters.
Budiman was released last year as part of an amnesty granted
by former president B.J. Habibie under presidential decree number
68 issued on July 2, 1999.
He said he had 38 lawyers to fight the party's case, including
noted attorneys Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, Munir and Apong
Herlina.
National Military Police chief Maj. Gen. Djasrie Marin said
that all of the Army officers, police officers and civilians
allegedly involved in the July 1996 violence would be called in
for questioning as part of another investigation into the unrest.
"The investigators will comprise military prosecutors, the
military police and officers from the National Police," Djasrie
had said.
Supporters of the PDI chairman, Soerjadi, forcibly took over
the party headquarters from loyalists of the ousted PDI leader
Megawati Soekarnoputri on July 27, 1996.
The takeover led to violence throughout the Central Jakarta
area, leaving five people dead and 23 others still missing. (ylt)