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)