Rights body subpoenas generals
Rights body subpoenas generals
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) formally
filed a request with the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday
to force nine active and retired servicemen to answer its
summonses for questioning over possible gross human rights
violations during the bloody riots of May 1998.
The officers reported were former Indonesian Military (TNI)
chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, former Jakarta Military Commander Maj.
Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, Bukit Barisan Military Commander Maj.
Gen. Tri Tamtomo, Col. Amril Amir, Col. Iskandar Zulkarnaen,
Brig. Gen. Mazni Harun as well as police officers Sr. Comr. Imam
Haryatna, Sr. Comr. Yudi Sushariyanto and Sr. Comr. Puji Hertanto
Iskandar.
They have ignored the summons sent to them on three occasions.
The TNI officers' lawyers have already declared that none of the
officers would appear.
Salahuddin Wahid, who heads the commission's ad hoc team on
the May riots, told reporters that the request was submitted to
the court to end the differences in perception between his team
and the officers' lawyers over the legality of the summonses.
"They said (the summonses are) not legal while we think they
are. Therefore, we will let the court decide as we want to settle
the matter through legal means," he told reporters after
submitting the request to the court.
According to article 94 (1) of the Human Rights Law No.
39/1999, those who report alleged human rights violations to the
commission, victims, witnesses and other parties implicated in
the cases must answer the commission's summonses.
Article 95 of the same law stipulates that the commission may
ask a district court president to force those refusing to do so
to answer the summonses.
Tommy Sihotang, a lawyer representing the military officers,
said his side would appeal to a higher court if the Central
Jakarta District Court approved the commission's request.
He said the team of lawyers and their clients would discuss
the matter on Wednesday "because of its legal and political
consequences".
Last year, the Central Jakarta District Court turned down the
commission's request to forcibly summon military and police
officers implicated in incidents in the Trisakti University and
Semanggi areas in Jakarta in 1998, saying the House of
Representatives had declared the cases to be common crimes.
Meanwhile, the court's head, Judge M. Saleh, said that he
would examine the new request soon.
The commission has concluded that the state violated the
public's rights during the May 13 and May 14 riots, which cost
more than 1,200 lives across the country, and has declared that
it would bring the perpetrators to the human rights court.
During the two-day nightmare -- which followed the shooting of
four Trisakti University students who were taking part in a
nationwide series of rallies to demand the resignation of
authoritarian ruler Soeharto -- hundreds of shops, shopping
centers and homes were looted and set ablaze. The commission also
confirmed mass rapes targeting women of Chinese ethnic.
No state security officers were around to prevent the crimes,
except for those hired by business owners to guard their assets
before the rampage even started, the commission's fact-finding
team said.
Consequently, many suspect the riots were part of a conspiracy
among those in power to quash what appeared to be developing into
a popular uprising.
A government-sanctioned fact-finding team led by former
commission deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman confirmed that more
than 1,200 people died during the riots. The team also discovered
that at least 66 women, mostly of Chinese descent, had been
raped.
Although the team submitted its findings to the administration
of President B.J.Habibie, who succeeded Soeharto, no measures
were taken.
The government actually admitted that human rights violations
took place during the May riots when Minister of Justice and
Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra spoke during the World
Conference Against Racism in South Africa two years ago.