Prosecutors held hostage by anticorruption group

Prosecutors held hostage by anticorruption group

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

Driven by their frustration over the sluggish investigation into
corruption cases, dozens of anticorruption activists took high-
ranking prosecutors hostage in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara on
Tuesday.

A visiting team of prosecutors from Jakarta and top local
prosecutors were held for over two-and-a-half hours in a meeting
room at the East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's Office, but no
injuries were reported.

The protesters, who wore red headbands, approached the
compound at 1 p.m when a meeting between the Jakarta team and
local prosecutors was underway. They formed a line in front of
the building to prevent the prosecutors from leaving.

The 20 security guards who were on duty scuffled with them but
were outnumbered and retreated to the lobby of the building in
order to prevent the protesters from entering the meeting room,
which had been locked from the inside.

The activists shouted their demands that the prosecutors speed
up their investigation into corruption cases, including alleged
corruption cases that involved top officials in Belu, Kupang and
Alor regencies. One of the East Nusa Tenggara prosecutors offered
to talk with the protesters but his offer was turned down.

Two hours later, when the activists had relaxed their security
and were scattered around the compound, security guards escorted
out of the building Achmad Luja, the Attorney General's deputy
for prosecutor's monitoring, and East Nusa Tenggara Prosecutor's
Office deputy chief Rudi Prajitno. However, the protesters were
alerted to the move and prevented the prosecutors from entering
the official car parked outside the building. One of the
activists even took up a position on the car's roof, from where
he threatened the prosecutors.

Fearing the situation would turn ugly, the security guards
escorted the prosecutors to the meeting room and from there, out
the back door. Outside, several plainclothes policeman were
ready with a car to transport the prosecutors to a safe place.

The team of prosecutors from the AGO were in East Nusa
Tenggara to question several local prosecutors who had allegedly
extorted local officials involved in a corruption cases.