Tanjung Priok case gets prosecutors

Tanjung Priok case gets prosecutors

JAKARTA: The Attorney General's Office has appointed 14
prosecutors to handle the case of the 1984 Tanjung Priok shooting
incident in which at least 33 people died.

At least 14 active and retired military officers, including
the incumbent commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus),
Maj. Gen. Sriyanto, have been named suspects in the case.

On Sept. 12, 1984 soldiers opened fire on antigovernment
protesters outside the Tanjung Priok mosque in North Jakarta.

The shooting left 33 dead and 55 injured, according to a probe
by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). Families
of victims say the number of casualties was much higher.

Sriyanto headed the North Jakarta military operation at the
time.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Antasari Azhar said
that most of the 14 prosecutors had handled the prosecution in
the East Timor human rights tribunal.

"They have had experience with cases on gross human rights
abuses at the ad hoc human rights tribunal," he said, referring
to the special court set up to try gross human rights violations.

Around 1,000 East Timorese died in the violence that followed
East Timor's vote to separate from Indonesia in 1999. The United
Nations blamed military-backed militias for the violence.

The tribunal acquitted almost all military and police figures
who stood trial for the East Timor violence. Critics blamed the
prosecutors for ignoring evidence presented by the UN, among
others. -- JP