Swedish prosecutors question GAM prisoners
The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Jakarta
Swedish prosecutors have started questioning prisoners of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Banda Aceh in a bid to investigate alleged crimes committed by the separatist leaders now living in exile in the Scandinavian country.
Arriving under tight security in Banda Aceh on Wednesday, the team, led by Thomas Lindstrand, immediately held a closed-door meeting with martial law administrator Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya before heading for the police headquarters to question GAM prisoners.
"I told the team that GAM members here have strong links with GAM leaders in Sweden. All that the rebels have done here was upon the instruction of Hasan Tiro," Endang said after the meeting.
The six-member Swedish investigation team, however, refused to comment further.
Rebel prisoners questioned Wednesday included negotiators Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba and Teungku Muhammad Usman, and GAM finance minister Muhammad Usman Lampoh Awe. They are currently serving prison terms up to 16 years.
The Swedish investigators, who will stay in Banda Aceh until Sunday, are also slated to visit the Tanjung Gusta penitentiary in Medan, North Sumatra to interview GAM prisoners serving prison terms in the province.
The government has pressed Sweden to take action against alleged GAM leaders, including movement founder Hasan Tiro, for numerous terrorist attacks in the country.
In Jakarta, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda expressed hope that the team would come up with the evidence to send GAM leaders to prison.
The government has also provided a 1,500-page document to support the investigation, Hassan said.
"From the legal and political point of view, it is unacceptable that citizens of a certain state wage armed rebellion in another country," Hassan said.
Commenting on the Swedish investigation team, GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawood said that he expected the prosecutors to be extra cautious when interviewing witnesses since "they are not free to express themselves because they are now under Indonesian custody."
Sofyan alleged that GAM detainees questioned by the Swedish team were chosen by the Indonesian military (TNI) and were promised the reduction of their prison terms, or even freedom, if they went along with TNI's scenario.
"Failing to do so will result in stern additional punishment," Sofyan told The Jakarta Post by phone.
Since the government imposed martial law on Aceh in mid-May last year and launched a military operation to crush GAM, which has been struggling for an independent state since 1976, more than 1,300 guerrillas have been killed, and 2,000 others were arrested or surrendered.