Reopening of Priok case sought

Reopening of Priok case sought

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Following a political move by lawmakers to push for the reopening
of the investigations into shooting incidents in 1998 and 1999,
the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence
(Kontras) has urged a new probe into another gross human rights
violation, that shootings in Tanjung Priok in 1984.

Kontras coordinator Usman Hamid suggested that new suspects be
named and prosecuted in accordance with the recommendations
issued by the National Commission on Human Rights.

"Hoping that those people who were acquitted of all charges
will be put on trial again is impossible. In our opinion, the
only alternative is to seek new suspects," Usman said.

These suspects, he said, should be those who were ultimately
responsible for the shootings, even though they might not be the
ones who pulled the triggers.

"I think the military commander who was in charge at that time
should be held responsible for the shooting incident in Tanjung
Priok," Usman said.

The Jakarta military commander when the incident occurred in
June 1984 was Maj. Gen. Try Sutrisno, who was elected vice
president in 1993 by the People's Consultative Assembly.

During the incident, troops opened fire on hundreds of
protesters during a clash at Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta,
which according to official figures killed 32 people.

The Attorney General's Office named 14 soldiers and officers
suspects in the case, including Special Forces (Kopassus) chief
Maj. Gen. Sriyanto Muntrasan, who was the North Jakarta military
commander at the time. Try, who made peace with families of the
victims, was not on the list.

All the suspects were acquitted by the ad hoc human rights
court, which ruled that the shootings "were unavoidable and were
not a planned or systematic action", and thus could not be
categorized as gross human rights abuses.

Kontras, Usman said, had urged the Attorney General's Office to
appeal the court's verdicts and asked both the President and the
House of Representatives to rehabilitate the reputation of the
victims and provide compensation for their families.

Usman said the charges laid against security officers
responsible for the Priok abuses and other gross human rights
violations had always been based on the Criminal Code on the
commission, abetting or initiation of a crime, but they had never
been charged with failing to prevent the incidents.

"The country has admitted that the gross human rights
violations took place, but has never sought to call anyone to
account for the crimes." Usman said.

He said the military top brass who were in command when the
incident occurred should be charged under the principle of
command responsibility as provided for in the Human Rights
Tribunal Law (No. 26/1999).