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.