Three Army soldiers charged with assaulting civilians

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.