Witnesses say student died in campus beating

JAKARTA (JP): Two witnesses in the trial of three students charged with torturing a freshman to death two years ago said that the victim died after being severely beaten during a campus security training program.

Budiarto Sutandar, 24, and Roni Irawan, 23, both at Tarumanegara University, said on Monday that they recalled The Manto looking exhausted after a long session that involved a regiment member walking on his chest and stomach. Budiarto and Roni were part of the same training group as Manto.

Tjung Kim Fui, 21, Budi Sutanto, 22, and Tumpal Saragih, 25, senior regiment members at the private university, are being tried for beating and trampling to death Manto, then a new recruit that was undergoing recruitment "training" on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29, 1995. Manto reportedly died on campus before the training was over on Jan. 29.

"The day before he died he became very weak and fainted, but the senior students did not rush him to hospital," said Budiarto, a medical school student.

Roni also said he had reported The Manto's condition to instructors in the regiment. But, he said, they never responded.

Dr. Abdul Mun`im Idries, from the forensic laboratory at the University of Indonesia's School of Medicine, said the victim's spleen had been broken and that his stomach was filled with two liters of blood when they conducted the autopsy.

Budiarto and Roni added their belief that some of the wounds on Manto's body were caused by the training program itself, which included walking while squatting with a stick between their knees and then hopping from the first floor up to sixth floor of a building.

Manto had been separated from the other trainees after he was unable to continue on, Budiarto said. "I don't exactly know what happened while he was away from us."

He said Manto appeared weaker after he was separated from the group.

Budiarto said that no doctor had been assigned to oversee the training.

The three defendants have denied the charges in the case, which for unexplained reasons has taken two years to go to trial.

At yesterday's hearing, The Manto's parents also testified. Joe Bi Bin, 39, the victim's mother said that she had not been given an official explanation or an apology from Tarumanegara University. Manto's body was cremated at university expense.

The woman said that it was not true that her son had fallen from the top floor of a university building, as alleged by a spokesman for the regiment. The victim's parents added that they had never given their son the required permission to join the resimen mahasiswa, a voluntary program for students used to recruit campus security personnel.

She said she had never been informed about her son's condition until after he was killed.

Presiding Judge Sri Sumantri adjourned the trial until next week. (07)