Prosecutors give arguments in Aceh trial of TNI troops

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)