Six soldiers stand trial over student deaths

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): A military tribunal yesterday began trying six of the 12 soldiers accused of using "excessive force" when dispersing a student demonstration here in April.

Three students died when the military dispersed thousands of university students who were demonstrating over rises in bus fares.

The military prosecutor, Lt. Col. HA Rachman, opened the prosecution's case by saying that the six soldiers had used excessive force in quelling the demonstration.

He said that as a direct result of their actions the students plunged into a river where they drowned.

"After hearing several shots, seeing armored vehicles roar into the campus and seeing some of their colleagues beaten by security forces, the frightened student demonstrators ran to the edge of the Pampang river. Some of them boarded rafts while others jumped into the river," Rachman said.

The six soldiers standing trial are Budiyana, 36, Djoni Prasetyo, 24, Agus Prinyanto, 32, Supomoro, 28, Rohadi Ibnu, 28 and Agus Moechtarom, 27.

The demonstrations occurred between April 22 and April 24 after the Ujungpandang Mayor announced a 66 percent average hike in public bus fares.

A bus fare of Rp 300 was to rise to Rp 500.

Events took a nasty turn on April 23 when the troops sent to guard the streets entered a university campus and started chasing students. In the commotion, three students, Syaiful Bya, Sultan Iskandar and Tasyrif, drowned while trying to escape.

In response to a public outcry, the regional military command set up an investigation headed by Col. Joko Sungkono. The investigation found that 12 soldiers had reacted excessively to the demonstration.

Two groups

The 12 soldiers will be tried in two groups of six, even though the charges against them are the same: purposely disobeying or going beyond expressed official orders.

Military prosecutor Rachman charged the six soldiers at yesterday's trial of violating article 103 of the military code.

Several district military commanders are among the witnesses expected to be called.

Despite the charges, Rachman said the soldiers entered the campus because they could no longer endure being pelted with rocks and insults from the demonstrators.

"The accused could not control their emotions and keep an eye on their subordinates, causing a clash between the platoon members and the students. There were even some shots fired," Rachman said.

He said the soldiers reaction exceeded what was required by the situation. (20/mds)