Prosecutors give arguments in Aceh trial of TNI troops

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Prosecutors in the joint civilian- military court here rejected on Monday the defense of 25 soldiers and civilians accused of the murder of a renowned Muslim figure and his followers last year.

The team of three prosecutors, led by Nuraini A.S., told the court that the killings of Tengku Bantaqiah and 57 of his students "were prepared in a careful and clear-cut manner".

"The defendants cannot escape trial on grounds that they were following orders. A criminal offense does not have to be committed perfectly by all defendants as each of them have played a role in the murder," prosecutor Nuraini said.

The defendants, 24 of whom are military troops, are facing the death sentence for the premeditated murder which took place in remote Beutong Ateuh village in West Aceh on July 23 last year.

The prosecutors, who took turns in reading parts of the arguments, said that the currently missing Lt. Col. Sudjono, then the chief of the intelligence unit at the Lilawangsa Military Command who supervised the antirebel operation in the village, had the intention of decimating the lives of Bantaqiah and his followers.

"In this (Bantaqiah) case -- a jurisprudence 'Arrest Hoge Raad' No. 863 on June 9, 1941, No. 576 on May 17, 1943 and June 24, 1945 as well as similar jurisprudence on April 9, 1934 -- give us the legal basis to proceed with the case, noting that all actions in a murder case must be viewed as a whole and not as parts of events," prosecutor Husni Thamrin said.

Therefore, the prosecutors integrated two crime scenes in the Bantaqiah murder case, namely the Beutong Ateuh village and the roads outside Beutong area to Takengon, as both sites were related, he said.

Presiding Judge Ruslan Dahlan adjourned the trial until Wednesday for a pretrial verdict on the defense plea to dismiss the case.

As in the previous two sessions, security was tight during Monday's hearing with only about 50 people attending the session.

Intelligence officers reportedly roamed the courthouse, while people preferred to listen to the trial's live session aired by state radio RRI.

Protesters expressed their pessimism on the trial. "The trial will only eliminate the state's chance to be held accountable for the violence and killings in Aceh," said Maimul Fidar, the coordinator of 22 non-governmental human rights groups in Aceh.

Otto Syamsudin Ishak, the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) coordinator in Aceh, shared Maimul's view and demanded an East Timor-style inquiry commission.

Meanwhile, violence continued to beleaguer the strife-torn province.

In Janto, 60 kilometers east of here, arson and bombing hit three government offices late on Sunday night. Armed gangs also burned a cooperative office in Pidie regency in the early hours of Monday.

Hours earlier two plainclothes military officers from Pidie Military District were caught carrying hand grenades in a police sweep in Selimun district, Aceh Besar, about 42 kilometers east of Banda Aceh on Sunday evening.

The two officers, one identified as First Sgt. Misran, were mobbed by angry Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel.

"The two turned out to be military members and were sent back to their base," Lt. Col. Sayed Husaini of Aceh Besar Police said.

In Jakarta, Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab said that the government had conducted several meetings with the leader of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Hasan Tiro, in a bid to seek a peaceful settlement of the Aceh issue.

Alwi confirmed the latest meeting was attended by State Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M. Saad and Hasan in Geneva, Switzerland, last week.

"There were a series of meetings but we cannot disclose the results because it still is too early to hope for certainty," Alwi said.

Alwi acknowledged that the discussion with Hasan was not easy and could not be done on a continuous basis. However, the minister did not elaborate on the issue that was impeding the discussion.

"Somehow the discussion was not as simple as diplomacy is between two countries. We cannot hold the meetings regularly and we always have to wait for the other's willingness to continue the discussion," he remarked. (50/51/edt/dja)