Three Army soldiers charged with assaulting civilians

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Lhokseumawe, Aceh

Three Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers went on trial on Tuesday on charges of the mistreatment of villagers during the current offensive against rebels in Aceh.

Military prosecutors accused the defendants, First Pvt. Syaiful Bahri, 29, Second Pvt. Tony Narianto, 22, and Second Pvt. Agus Hidayat, 24, of beating five residents of Lawang village, Peudada district, Bireuen regency, on May 27 and breaching military discipline.

"Sometime on May 27 the defendants committed violence and broke military discipline by torturing civilians as they sought information on the presence of separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels believed to be living there," prosecutor Maj. Maryanto told the court.

The three are part of a group of seven soldiers from the Lampung-based 144th Battalion who were implicated in the incident. The other four -- Second Lt. Fuad Suparlan, First Sgt. Haryono, Second Pvt. Sudaryanto and First Pvt. Alfian -- will go on trial later this week.

Maryanto said in his indictment that the assaults took place after two groups of soldiers led by platoon commander Fuad gave chase to seven rebels whom they had been involved with in an armed clash for about 40 minutes.

Fuad then ordered Lawang villagers to gather at the local mosque for a "briefing" and asked them to tell the soldiers where the GAM rebels were. At least 25 women and eight men turned up for the meeting, during which the soldiers began to beat villagers identified as Hamdani, Maimun Achmad and Razali, who had arrived late.

"Their (the soldiers') behavior contradicts the military's code of conduct, which requires them to protect civilians," Maryanto said.

The three defendants were charged with violating Article 351 and Article 55 of the Criminal Code on assault, and Article 103 of the Military Criminal Code for violating military discipline. The charges carry a maximum sentence of two years in jail.

All the seven suspects are being detained by the Lhokseumawe Military Police pending the court verdicts.

Hamdani, Maimun and Razali were present, but the judges did not ask them to testify as witnesses. They were taken from Fauziah general hospital where they were being treated for their injuries.

During the incident in Lawang, the soldiers also killed Abu Bakar, whom they claimed was a GAM member as they found a bundle of identity cards belonging to villagers in his home.

Many villagers said their identity cards had been seized by GAM rebels.

The mistreatment of the five Lawang residents sparked fear among other villagers, who then fled their homes.

The trial was adjourned until Wednesday to hear defense arguments.