Student's death investigated

JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta District police chief Lt. Col. Made Mangku Pastika promised over the weekend to disclose the facts pertaining to the murder of a 19-year old student regiment recruit, who died as a result of physical mistreatment earlier this year.

The victim, identified as Themanto, a student of the privately-owned Tarumanegara University, died on Jan. 29, after taking part in a basic training course for the university's student regiment recruits.

"I promise that Themanto's murder case will be disclosed entirely," Made said.

According to Made, the suspect in the case, who was identified as KF, was a fellow student of Tarumanegara university.

During the investigation, it was found that the victim was beaten and maltreated. Police handed over the dossiers of the case to the prosecutor's office a month ago, Made said.

However, Made declined to explain in detail why the suspect was not detained.

The victim's mother, Jeo Bie Kim, reported Kompas daily, questioned why the suspect was still free. She also wondered why the dossiers had not been sent to the prosecutor's office.

According to Mrs. Kim, she was informed by the prosecutor's office that the dossiers were sent back to the West Jakarta police because they were incomplete. According to reports, eight suspects were believed to have been involved, but the dossiers named only one, Mrs. Kim said. (01)