Suspects arrive for Aceh human rights abuse trial
Suspects arrive for Aceh human rights abuse trial
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): A total of 25 suspects of the Bantaqiah
killing arrived here on Wednesday for the joint military-civilian
trial scheduled to begin on Monday.
The suspects, 24 military personnel and one civilian, boarded
an Air Force Hercules at the Iskandar Muda airport under tight
security at 11:10 a.m. local time. The Military Police officer
who heads a joint team of investigators in the murder case, Col.
Hendardji, was seen accompanying the suspects.
The entourage, including witnesses and a joint military-
civilian panel of judges, also brought evidence with them,
including four M-16 semiautomatic rifles, eight SS-1s, one GLM
short gun, marijuana and a machete.
Hendardji handed over the dossiers and evidence to the Aceh
Provincial Prosecutor office later in the day.
It will be the first of five cases of alleged human rights
abuse to be sent to court upon recommendation of a government-
sanctioned commission inquiring into violence in the troubled
province. The decade-long anti-rebel military operations were
lifted in 1998.
All the suspects went straight to Mataie prison in a military
compound located 10 kilometers south of here.
A bus belonging to the local administration transported the
suspects from the airport to the detention house. Most of them
were attired in their uniforms.
As the bus passed Lambaro through Blang Bintang districts,
troops were seen standing near intersections while local
residents looked on.
Head of the Aceh Prosecutor's Office, Sukarno Yusuf, said the
joint tribunal will proceed on April 17 without Lt. Col. Sudjono,
a key witness and suspect in the case, missing since November.
Capt. Inf. Anton Yuliantoro, 30, from the Army Strategic
Reserve Command (Kostrad) will be the highest ranked military
officer to stand trial. Anton is one of three officers implicated
in the crimes against humanity, along with 21 rank and file
soldiers.
Half of the military suspects are ranked private.
The only civilian suspect, Thaleb Amman Suar, 47, from Kampung
Taya Kolak in Silih Nara district, Central Aceh, works for the
military.
Military officers maintain that Islamic religious teacher
Tengku Bantaqiah and his 56 students were killed in an exchange
of gunfire in the remote Beutong area in West Aceh in July last
year. But the inquiry commission found no evidence of resistance
when the incident took place.
It will take the prosecutors three days to examine the
dossiers.
"We are drafting the indictment and hopefully the trial will
open on time," Sukarno said.
The tribunal has been delayed at least three times before the
date was announced by Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah
M. Saad last week.
Locals expressed their fear on Wednesday that the trial would
trigger a more chaos here and in neighboring Aceh Besar regency.
In the latest outbreak of violence, a bomb explosion rocked the
National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) office here on Monday
night. (50/51/edt)