Witness recognizes one defendants in kidnapping case

Witness recognizes one defendants in kidnapping case

JAKARTA (JP): A member of the East Jakarta Military Command
told a military tribunal on Tuesday that he believed he
recognized one of the 11 Army Special Forces (Kopassus) soldiers
on trial as one of the kidnappers of three activists.

Summoned to the witness stand, First Sgt. Siswanto, an
intelligence operative of the East Jakarta Military Command, told
the Jakarta Military Court that on March 13 last year he was
instructed by his superior to check out a low-cost apartment in
Klender in East Jakarta.

He said he had been informed that two members of the outlawed
People's Democratic Party (PRD) had been arrested.

"When I arrived, a lot of people were already there and I
heard two people had been taken away," Siswanto said.

Siswanto said that he was then informed three people would be
handed over to the police via his office on Saturday, March 14,
but nobody showed up.

He said that a man who did not identify himself and his unit
then delivered three blindfolded men to his office on March 15.

"I recognize the defendant as the one who handed over three
people to my office on Sunday, March 15," Siswanto said referring
to the fourth defendant Capt. Yulius Selvanus.

Siswanto told the court that Yulius then had long hair.

He also said that the three then were handed over to a waiting
captain from the Jakarta Police headquarters later in the evening
on March 15.

The three people handed to the police were Aan Rusdianto,
Nezar Patria and Mugianto.

They had been among 23 activists who were abducted by
unidentified men beginning in April 1997.

Nine of them resurfaced after weeks of absence and spoke of
abductions and torture, one of them was found dead and 13 others
are still listed as missing.

Another witness Chief Sgt. Sutomo from Duren Sawit district
military post told the court that he was also at the Klender
apartment on March 13 and said he arrested Mugianto and took him
to his nearby post.

Sutomo also said that he did not recognize any of the
defendants.

In a 27-page document outlining charges against the
defendants, military prosecutors had said that Aan and Nezar were
taken from their apartment by five of the defendants at 7:30 p.m.

The document was read by the military prosecutor Col. Harom
Wijaya during the first session of Jan. 23. In Tuesday's session
the details of March 13, 1997 as stated in the charge were not
raised.

The document says that two of the defendants, Capt. Joko Budi
Utomo and Chief Sgt. Sigit Sugianto, then were left on the site
to arrest Mugianto, who was still out at the time.

The prosecution said that Joko then went in to the apartment
at 8 p.m. and found Mugianto was already there with Sutomo.

It says that Sutomo took Joko and Mugianto to Duren Sawit
military post before they were transferred to the East Jakarta
Military Command later that night.

"Chief Sgt. Sigit reported the incident to Capt. Yulius
through his cellular phone and Yulius then arrived at the East
Jakarta Military Command at 10 p.m. to pick up Joko and Mugianto
to be taken to the Cijantung command post," the document says.

The court adjourned before noon and was set to resume on
Thursday.

Human rights activists said that the trial of 11 Kopassus
soldiers was a "farce" and insisted that it is only a front to
protect senior military officers and former president Soeharto.

Military prosecutors have claimed that the defendants acted on
their own initiatives and the charges only relate to the nine
activists who have reappeared.

Activists also questioned why the charges did not mention the
torture that the victims have said they were subjected to.

At the time of the abductions, the defendants were under the
command of Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto who was honorarily
discharged from the military in August for his involvement in the
disappearances.

Rights activists have been demanding that Prabowo, who was
last reported to be in Jordan, must be put on trial as he had
admitted before the Officer's Honor Council in August that he was
involved in the abductions. (byg)