Prison terms demanded for 18 accused in campus attack

Prison terms demanded for 18 accused in campus attack

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

A team of military prosecutors demanded on Tuesday prison terms
for 18 police personnel accused of involvement in an armed attack
on Medan's HKBP Nomensen University four years ago, which claimed
the lives of two students.

Opening the trial, a prosecutor from the Bukit Barisan
Regional Military Command said defendant Chief. Brig. Sudaryono
was manifestly guilty of fatally shooting Ricardo Silitonga.

The victim was shot at a distance of 30 meters by the accused,
who was using a Colt revolver, while he was standing in the
compound of Nomensen University.

For the offense, the prosecutor demanded a 30-month prison
sentence for the accused and also demanded that the accused be
discharged from the police force.

In the same trial, the prosecutor also demanded a minimum
sentence of four months in prison for Adj. Comr. Amiruddin
Pasaribu, First Insp. M. Edi Fariadi and First Insp. Yayat for
their respective roles in the attack. The prosecutor demanded
five months in jail for defendant First Insp. Dedi Kurnia
Supriadi.

The prosecutor also sought six months in prison for seven
police personnel, namely Chief Brig. Hidayat Hasibuan, Chief
Brig. Armansyah Harahap, Chief Brig. Ferdinand Bukit, Brig. Zul
Efendi, First Brig. Alexander Putra, First Brig. Husnul Yazi and
Chief Brig. Rusdiyanto Sembiring.

The prosecutor demanded a seven-month prison term for Chief
Brig. Yunardi. For the remaining four police personnel, namely
Chief Brig. Kennedi Rumapea, First Brig. Ismail Siringo-Ringo,
Second Brig. Refti Rama Siswandi and Second Brig. Zulhendri, the
prosecutor demanded eight months each.

In the trial, the prosecutor accused the defendants of using
violence against the students, in violation of Article 170 of the
Criminal Code.

However, in the trial held at the Bukit Barisan Military
Command headquarters, the prosecutors failed to mention the
person responsible for the fatal shooting of another victim,
Calvin Nababan. The prosecutor only explained that Calvin died of
a gunshot wound that penetrated his neck and severed an artery.

Chief of the military prosecutors Lt. Col. Purnomo said
prosecutors had difficulty in pinpointing the police officer
guilty of shooting Calvin because it was hard for the prosecutors
to find the evidence.

"The bullet that penetrated Ricardo's body was found, but the
situation was different in Calvin's case. In his case, the bullet
that penetrated his body could not be found, so we couldn't trace
the perpetrator," Purnomo told The Jakarta Post after the
hearing.

The attack on the university campus occurred on May 1, 2000.
It began after students at the university descended on the North
Sumatra Police headquarters demanding that their colleague, Panel
Pakpahan, who was allegedly arrested for gambling, be freed. The
protest turned violent and several students were arrested.

The students, however, resisted arrest and took two policemen,
First Brig. Ngalu Surbakti and First Brig. Suherman hostage. The
two were brought back to the Nomensen University campus.

The hostage-taking certainly sparked anger among the fellow
police personnel. Two platoons were immediately deployed to the
university in a bid to release the two policemen.

Police attacked the university, which met stiff resistance
from the students.

In the incident, two students were killed, three were injured
and several windows of the university were shattered. At about
3:30 p.m., the two police hostages were freed.

Presiding judge Col. Reflinar Nurman said that the trial would
resume on Jan. 27 to hear the defense statement from the lawyers
of the police personnel.