Tanjung Priok rights trial kick off

Tanjung Priok rights trial kick off

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eleven active military personnel were formally charged with
crimes against humanity on Monday for their role in the bloody
Tanjung Priok massacre in 1984.

Jakarta ad hoc rights tribunal prosecutor Widodo Supriady
accused the 11 soldiers of opening fire on a crowd of Muslim
protesters in front of the North Jakarta Police station on the
night of Sept. 12, 1984.

The Army personnel are, Capt. Sutrisno Mascung, Chief Corp.
Asrori, Chief Corp. Siswoyo, Sgt. Maj. Abdul Halim, Second Lt.
Zulfata, Sgt. Maj. Sumitro, Chief Sgt. Sofyan Hadi, Chief Corp.
Prayogi, Chief Corp. Winarko, Chief Corp. Idrus, and Second Sgt.
Muhson.

Siswoyo was absent from the trial due to a severe kidney
ailment.

The soldiers were part of a group of 13 soldiers led by Capt.
Sutrisno Mascung, then commander of Platoon III of the Air
Defense Artillery Battalion based in North Jakarta. The other two
soldiers, Parno and Kartidjo, are still at large.

The number of people killed in the massacre varies. The
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) puts the death
toll at 33, but military authorities said only nine people were
killed. Families of the victims, however, claim that almost 400
Muslim protesters were killed during the incident.

According to the prosecutor's charges, at least 14 people were
killed and 11 others injured in the incident, believed to be one
of the bloodiest individual acts of civilian suppression during
the 32-year iron-fisted rule of former dictator Soeharto.

Upon hearing the indictment, Sutrisno told the judges that the
soldiers were not guilty. "On behalf of my colleagues, the
indictment is not true. I object to the indictment," he said.

Under the Human Rights Law No. 26/2000, the soldiers face a
minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of death penalty if
found guilty.

The Tanjung Priok rights tribunal is the second major attempt
by Indonesia to bring to justice military personnel responsible
for past human rights abuses, after the landmark human rights
trial on East Timor.

In the East Timor trial, which failed to impress both domestic
rights activists and the international community, 18 military and
police personnel as well as civilian leaders were brought to
court for failing to prevent gross rights abuses ahead of,
during, and after the United Nations-sponsored referendum in the
former Portuguese colony in 1999.

However, twelve of the 18 defendants, mostly military and
police personnel, were acquitted.

But even those sentenced to jail, including former military
commander overseeing East Timor Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, remain
free pending appeal.

Public skepticism is also high in the Tanjung Priok trial as
some high-ranking military officers responsible for Jakarta and
the military at the time -- particular former Jakarta military
commander Gen. Try Sutrisno and former Military Commander Gen.
L.B. Moerdani -- were absent from the list of suspects.

Komnas HAM recommended 23 officers, including Maj. Gen.
Sriyanto and two retired military generals, Maj. (ret) Pranowo
and Maj. Gen. (ret) Rudolf Butar-Butar, be charged over the
killings.

During the trial, the defendants, who were wearing Army
uniforms, sat before the panel of five judges presided over by
Judge Andi Samsan Nganro. All of the soldiers were in their 40s.
The court room was packed with dozens of fellow soldiers and the
families of the victims.

The trial was adjourned to Sept. 29, when the panel of judges
will hear statements from the lawyers of the defendants.