Rights commission condemns treatment of Marsinah suspects

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights says it has found evidence of rights violations against the people being tried for the murder of labor activist Marsinah, including indications of torture.

The commission, in one of its most critical statements, urged the authorities yesterday to look into their charges and punish the responsible parties.

The two-page statement, signed by chairman Ali Said, was careful to avoid naming any particular agency in the government or the military as responsible.

"You know the story," said Baharuddin Lopa, the commission's secretary general, who announced the findings of the team looking into the murder trials, which have been beset with controversy.

"It is not within our power to announce the names of any agency which has abused human rights," he said when pressed by reporters to name the offending agencies. "But we will soon send the results of the investigation to the concerned parties."

The commission launched its investigation after receiving complaints from the suspects of torture that elicited false confessions. They also said the court has not treated their case fairly and that the hearings are designed to ensure a guilty verdict as part of an official coverup.

Nine are being tried for the murder, all executives and security guards of PT Citra Putra Surya, the watchmaking company in Sidoarjo, East Java, where Marsinah worked. The lone woman defendant has already been sentenced to seven months imprisonment as an accessory to murder. All the trials are held in Surabaya and Sidoarjo.

An Army captain is also facing a military tribunal in connection with Marsinah's death.

Irregularities

The Commission said in the statement that it found irregularities in the way the suspects of the murder were arrested and treated, including the fact that they were not accompanied by lawyers during interrogation.

The commission "also found indications of various forms of torture, physical and mental."

"The information was obtained after interviewing a number of interrogators, both at the Brawijaya Military Command and the East Java Police, and the suspects and their lawyers."

The statement said that "other people" were possibly involved in the murder.

"The commission appeals to all agencies involved to stop these abuses of human rights and to question those who may have been involved from the initial process of the investigation and punish them if there is sufficient evidence."

The commission also urged the authorities to look into the possibility that others, besides the suspects, may have been involved in the murder.

It also found unwarranted intervention by the local military agency in the affairs of PT Citra Putra Surya, apparently confirming earlier suggestions that the local military chief took the initiative to fire striking workers, which led to further labor protests and ultimately Marsinah's murder.

Marsinah's badly mutilated body was found on May 9, 1993 days after she led a strike. She was last seen alive at the local military command.

The suspects were abducted by security officials from their homes in October and their whereabouts were made known two weeks after their disappearance, after the police formally issued warrants for their arrest.

Allegations that their rights had been trampled only surfaced during the trials, as one by one they retracted the statements of guilt they made to their interrogators, saying they were subjected to unbearable torture.

Some claimed their genitals were electrocuted or that they were forced to drink urine. One suspect said he was forced to mop the floor with his tongue, another said he had his toes place under the leg of a chair where his investigator subsequently sat.

One of the suspects said he was prepared to confess to not one but twenty murders if it would stop the pain. (prs/emb)