Rights commission urged to probe death of witness

Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Pressure has been mounting for a probe into the death of a witness in police custody here more than a month ago.

A coalition of non-governmental organizations has urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to investigate the death of Aan Yulianto, 19, who they suspect was severely beaten during police questioning.

"This is about the police's responsibility in protecting witnesses and detainees from any threat of human rights violations," Teguh Purnomo from the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute, who acted as spokesman for the coalition, said in a media briefing on Thursday.

Aan was one of five witnesses taken into police custody on March 28 following a brawl on Jl. Magelang in which a member of the elite Mobile Brigade was stabbed by an unidentified assailant.

Aan complained about severe pain in his abdomen when he was released by the police on March 30 and was rushed to Sardjito Hospital where he died a few hours later following surgery.

Teguh said that Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Y. Wahyu Saronto and police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Toto Sunyoto should be held responsible for Aan's death for their failure to protect him.

"Not only should Aan's torturers be punished, but also the chief of Yogyakarta Police as he is responsible for any misconduct by his men in his headquarters," he said.

Yogyakarta provincial police have been pressured over the last two months to investigate Aan's death.

What really happened to Aan while in police custody remains unclear as the police have refused to discuss their investigation results.

Aan's father, Suroto, 52, filed a complaint with the police a few days after Aan died, charging that police brutality had led to his son's death.

"Aan was fine until he was taken into police custody that night because he was not involved in the brawl," Ego Chaniago, one of Aan's friends, told reporters at the briefing.

Doctors said they believed Aan had been repeatedly hit with a blunt object as several of his ribs were broken and his liver and lung were seriously damaged.

A source at Yogyakarta Police Headquarters said that nine members of the Mobile Brigade went to Aan's cell on the second day of Aan's arrest and beat him, apparently in rage over the attack on fellow Mobile Brigade officer Totok Sugiyarto.

"They are like any other members of a combatant force in the military who will do anything to take a revenge if a friend is offended, regardless of Aan's status as a mere witness," the source, who asked for anonymity, told The Jakarta Post.

Five police officers, one of them a Mobile Brigade member, have been named suspects in the case. None have admitted to beating Aan.

Yogyakarta's Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin) as well as a team of lawyers have also demanded Komnas HAM investigate the case.

"The police are so sluggish in their investigation. We also doubt that they have named the true culprits who caused Aan's death," a member of the team of lawyers, Winarno, said.