Preacher Anton a no-show for city police summons

Preacher Anton a no-show for city police summons

JAKARTA (JP): Ex-con turned Moslem preacher Anton Medan, who
has been named by police as a suspect for orchestrating the mid-
May riots, failed yesterday to meet a police summons for
questioning.

Instead, he sent his lawyer, Munir from the Indonesian Legal
Aid Foundation, to meet interrogators at the Jakarta Police
Headquarters.

According to Munir, his client asked him to represent him
in order to firstly clarify allegations made against Anton for
his role in leading the crowds during the unrest.

"We strongly believe that he is being treated as a scapegoat
in the mid-May riots. He could not be responsible for all the
riots which occurred here.

"Based on our investigation, it is obvious that Anton was in
the wrong place and at the wrong time when some incidents
happened," the lawyer explained.

During the two-hour meeting with the police yesterday, Munir
told investigators that on May 13 his client was asked by a
Marine colonel to calm angry crowds in the Gunung Sahari area in
Central Jakarta.

Anton then shepherded people to an open field, Munir told
reporters.

"After doing that he went straight home. And Anton also
reiterated that there had been no burnings and lootings when he
left the area.

We've double checked Anton's testimony and so far all that he
has said is true," he said.

The police interrogators told Munir that they had already
questioned 13 people, all of whom supported the police allegation
against Anton.

He said that Anton would meet the police summons tomorrow
morning. Munir said he would accompany his client to the National
Military Police headquarters to clarify Anton's role in the same
incident.

Munir also expressed his dissatisfaction with the police over
their reluctance to release one of his other clients, Andi Arief,
the chairman of Indonesian Students Solidarity for Democracy
(SMID), a wing of the outlawed Democratic People's Party (PRD).

"We learn that there's an institution which has interfered
with the police's efforts to release Andi Arief.

"The city police chief himself (Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman)
gave me his word that he granted the appeal last week," Munir
said.

Andi is being detained for his alleged role in the Tanah
Tinggi bomb explosion in Central Jakarta last year. (edt)