Rights body will query activists

Rights body will query activists

JAKARTA (JP): Rights campaigner Marzuki Darusman expressed his
belief yesterday the military and police were linked to the
highly publicized disappearances of student and political
activists.

"It isn't too difficult to believe that military apparatus are
linked to the activists' disappearance," the deputy chairman of
the National Commission on Human Rights said yesterday.

Student activist Andi Arief of the outlawed Democratic
People's Party (PRD) was among missing activists who recently
turned up in police custody. Marzuki said the commission planned
to go to the National Police Headquarters to learn about the
disappearance from Andi himself.

However, the commission would first let the organization which
reported his disappearance, namely the Foundation of the
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), to complete their own
inquiries.

Marzuki also renewed his call for lawyer Desmond J. Mahesa,
student Pius Lustrilanang, and Haryanto Taslam of the Indonesian
Democratic Party, who recently reappeared, to give an account of
their whereabouts during their absence.

Desmond and Pius turned up in their respective hometowns of
Banjarmasin and Palembang after going missing for more than two
months, but have so far kept silent on what happened to them
during their ordeal.

"We thank God they've come back, but the problem won't go away
just like that... the public has the right to know what
happened," Marzuki said.

An account from the activists would not only explain their
mysterious disappearance, but would also help in the search for
those still missing.

The disappearances have raised public concern because all
appeared to be related to the political beliefs of the missing
people, Marzuki said.

Conflicting comments from Armed Forces leaders made matters
worse because they created the impression that its units were
"badly coordinated", he said.

Meanwhile, the foundation raised questions yesterday over the
suddenness with which the National Police produced an arrest
warrant for Andi.

YLBHI lawyer Munir said Andi's family received an arrest
warrant dated March 29 on Thursday, April 23, which suggested
that Andi was in police custody for the entire period of his
absence. During the same period, police leaders had repeatedly
claimed they had no knowledge of Andi's whereabouts.

Andi was abducted from his home in Bandarlampung on March 28
by a gang of unidentified men.

Andi told Munir during their meeting at the National Police
Headquarters on Thursday that his abductors handed him over to
police on April 17. It is still not clear who abducted him,
interrogated him day and night, and kept him blindfolded for
almost 3 weeks.

No warrant

Munir said that when Andi's family reported his disappearance
to Lampung provincial police on April 5, officers said no warrant
had been issued against Andi.

"Lampung police even placed him on a list of missing persons,"
Munir said, criticizing National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo,
who said on Wednesday, April 22, that he had not received any
report on missing persons.

"How could he have said that when Andi has been in a police
cell since April 17?" asked Munir, who is also head of Kontras,
the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.

National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Da'i Bachtiar reiterated
yesterday that Andi had been arrested on March 28, and officially
detained on March 29. He refused to say who took Andi from his
home and maintained that the activist was in perfect health.

Also yesterday, around 30 activists from the Team of
Volunteers for Humanity, including woman astronomer Karlina
Leksono Supeli and Catholic priest Ignatius Sandyawan Sumardi,
met with the rights commission to share their findings on the
cases of three activists -- Nezar Patria, Mugianto, and Aan
Rusdianto -- currently under Jakarta Police detention.

The team said in a 10-page report submitted to the commission
that the three activists had been abducted and abused by police
officers. (edt/byg/aan)