Robbery suspects' wives seek justice

JAKARTA (JP): The wives of armed robbery suspects yesterday visited the National Commission on Human Rights in East Jakarta seeking justice over allegations that suspect Tjetje Tadjudin died after police torture.

Both Tjetje's wife, Tati Nuryati, and Norman Lubis' wife, each accompanied by three relatives, were represented by lawyers Bambang Widjojanto and a lawyer from Oemar Senoadji's office respectively.

Tjetje's wife, Tati, with brown headscarf, looked gloomy as she entered the meeting room. Both seemed uneasy in front of the media and tried to hide their faces from the cameras. They did not speak to the press before or after the meeting.

The lawyers asked the Commission to bar the press from the meeting.

The Commission was represented by Bambang Soeharto, Soegiri, Clementino Dos Reis Amaral, Djoko Soegianto and B.N. Marbun.

After the one-and-a-half hour meeting, Bambang Soeharto said that based on the suspects' relatives' reports, the Commission concluded the suspects' rights to freedom from fear and torture were violated.

Tjetje and Norman were detained for their alleged roles in a fatal robbery on the Jagorawi turnpike on Oct. 11 in which their friend Zaenuddin, was shot dead.

Interrogations of Tjetje and Norman after the robbery led to their arrest after police believed they were involved.

Police said Tjetje died last Monday. This sparked controversy when a Bogor PMI hospital postmortem report said Tjetje was beaten to death and did not die from respiratory problems as police first stated.

First Lt. DT, the main suspect in Tjetje's death, has been detained since last Friday.

Lawyer Bambang Widjojanto of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), said he wanted the authorities to find why Tjetje was tortured.

"Something must be behind the torture. We assume there is a scenario behind the coercion. We can't say it was just a procedural error," Bambang said.

The lawyer said the victim told his relatives that First Lt. DT had beaten him. "Tjetje also mentioned a name of a military police officer. But it was not clear what the connection between the military officer and the torture was," he said.

According to the lawyer, police violated legal procedures because there was no warrant for Tjetje's arrest. "He was not accompanied by lawyers during questioning," he said.

Norman's wife, according to Bambang Soeharto, was also unhappy with the officers's treatment of her husband who is still in custody. He was also tortured during questioning, Bambang Soeharto said.

Bambang Soeharto promised the Commission would today go to the Bogor Regency Police and the West Java Police to investigate the case.

The Deputy Chief of the Bogor police comforted Tjetje's relatives at 10 p.m. on Sunday, even though he was not declared dead until 5 a.m on Monday.

"It's a bit strange" Bambang Widjojanto said. (jun)

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