Six soldiers stand trial over student deaths
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)