Three soldiers on trial admit assaulting villagers

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh

Three soldiers who went on trial for allegedly beating civilians in the village of Lawang in Bireun regency, confessed to their crimes on Wednesday, as the National Commission on Human Rights said it would send a fact-finding team to look into reports of human rights abuses in the war-torn province of Aceh.

On the second day of their court-martial, the three defendants confirmed witness statements that they had beaten villagers unconscious in a raid against members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on May 27.

Military prosecutors presented three victims who appeared before the court with bruises on their faces and bodies.

Hamdani Yahya, 47, said that soldiers beat him because they thought he was not cooperative enough when they questioned him. He had bruises on his face.

The second victim, forty-year-old Maimun Achmad suffered bruising to his back after "three men in army fatigues with red and white bandannas" hit him with a log.

He was beaten after he denied knowing the whereabouts of a suspected rebel identified as Ismael.

Razali Abdul Rachman was hit on the head for not being able to say where Ismael was.

The three soldiers are First Pvt. Syaiful Bahri, 29, Second Pvt. Tony Narianto, 22, and Second Pvt. Agus Hidayat, 24.

Military prosecutors charges them with violating articles 351 and 55 of the Criminal Code on assaulting civilians and article 103 of the military's criminal code on breaching military discipline. The charges carry a maximum penalty of two years.

In total, seven soldiers have been charged with assaulting civilians in the Lawang incident. Three others are waiting for their turn to stand trial. They are being detained by the Lhoksuemawe Military Police pending their court appearances.

The soldiers are from the 144th Battalion, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Sriwijaya Military command.

Sriwijaya military chief Maj. Gen. Soenario, who visited the Aceh Military Operation Command, in Lhokseumawe promised to punish his subordinates if they were proven guilty of the charges. "Soldiers are not allowed to assault civilians. If they are found guilty they deserved to be punished."

The trial, which began on Tuesday, marked the first time that the Indonesian Military (TNI) has court-martialed its soldiers amid an ongoing military operation.

The war in Aceh is entering its third week, and is Indonesia's largest military operation since the 1975 invasion of East Timor. Fears have since risen over unchecked human rights abuses, as were perpetrated during the 10 years Aceh was a military operations zone. The war between 1989 and 1999 killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians. No soldier has ever stood trial for unlawful killing in Aceh.

The Lawang incident also claimed the life of a villager, Abubakar. His wife Aisyah had earlier told reporters that soldiers dragged him out of their house, beat him and then shot him.

One of the seven soldiers who appeared before the court admitted shooting Abubakar. However, another soldier, First Pvt. Alfian, denied Aisyah's statement that her husband had been executed. According to him, Abubakar was a rebel who tried to escape when the soldiers rounded up the village residents.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday to hear the prosecutors' charges.