Probe into PDI HQ attack continues

Probe into PDI HQ attack continues

JAKARTA (JP): City police are scheduled to summons witnesses
in connection with an investigation into the bloody takeover of
the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters on July 27,
1996, an officer said on Thursday.

"The investigation into the July 27 incident has not been
shelved, we're still working on it and probably more witnesses
will be summoned for questioning," city police chief Maj. Gen.
Noegroho Djajoesman announced after a two-hour meeting with
lawyers grouped in the Indonesian Team of Defense Lawyers for
Democracy.

The lawyers went to the police headquarters to submit new
evidence, including an article from Tempo magazine's July 26
edition. The magazine ran an investigative report on the
headquarter's attack on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.

The report suggests that former president Soeharto's military
aides planned and financed the attack, which triggered massive
unrest throughout the city.

The magazine also ran a special interview with the then
treasurer of the PDI, Alex Widya Siregar, who stated that he and
other state officials, high-ranking officers and prominent
businessmen, had been involved in the attack.

Noegroho said he welcomed anybody who was willing to present
new evidence regarding the matter.

The two-star general, however, declined to answer questions on
who would be summoned soon for questioning.

Separately, city police chief of detectives Col. Alex Bambang
Riatmodjo said the Tempo reporters would probably be summoned for
questioning.

Five people died, 149 were injured and 23 others are reported
still missing in the 1996 unrest. (emf)