YLBHI ready to defend general's killer

YLBHI ready to defend general's killer

JAKARTA (JP): A legal aid foundation yesterday pledged to
defend and accompany the four young men accused by the police in
the killing of Brig. Gen. TMF Tampubolon at their interrogation
sessions.

"We've discussed this matter with a number of lawyers in this
city and will soon offer our free services to the four suspects,
particularly to accompany them during the questioning as allowed
by our law," YLBHI executive director Mulyana W. Kusumah told The
Jakarta Post.

The Army brigadier general, according to the official theory,
was stabbed 11 times by two of the four suspects after a heated
argument on Jl. Griya Wartawan in Cipinang Muara, East Jakarta,
on Monday night.

Tampubolon, 54, was an expert staff on economic affairs to the
ABRI Chief and a former intelligence deputy assistant to ABRI's
chief of general affairs. He was a group commander for one of
ABRI's four elite red beret Kopassus squads. He also played some
role in mediating the dispute at the Toba Batak Christian Church
in Sumatra.

The incident occurred at around 10 p.m. Monday, about five
minutes after Tampubolon received a call from an unidentified
party and hurriedly left his house at the Army housing complex.

According to Mulyana, lawyers are required by law to accompany
suspects during questioning at the police station. The
requirement is to prevent pressure, including torture, by the
investigators.

Marsinah

Mulyana said he was worried that if the four are unaccompanied
by lawyers during the interrogation, the torture used on the
suspects to gain confessions in the celebrated Marsinah murder
could happen again.

The police have said that Marsinah, a labor activist, was
killed as part of a conspiracy by the executives at her watch
making factory. The National Commission on Human Rights, however,
believes that not all is right at the controversial trials of the
accused killers.

The Commission stated that its fact-finding team in Surabaya,
East Java, found indications that the suspects were tortured and
that some of their rights had been denied during their arrests
and subsequent interrogation.

Mulyana said that as this time the case involved the killing
of a general, the police should handle it carefully and properly.

"We all hope the killing is a real crime, but there are still
possibilities of certain motives behind it. Therefore, the police
should make the killing clear," Mulyana, also a criminologist,
said, although he refused to clarify his view about possible
motives.

"The police, for instance, should also reveal all that
happened before and after the incident in such a way that would
support their theory and bury the other versions reported by many
of the media," the lawyer said.

The police version says that Tampubolon was driven by one of
the two police officers of the nearby Kebon Nanas police
subprecinct to the UKI hospital before the general died half an
hour later, he said.

Reports however quoted the two police officers as saying that
they both can not drive.

"The police should reveal the complete and logical, as well as
reliable story of the killing to help bury the media versions,
which might be true," Mulyana said.

The general, bleeding heavily, drove his sedan to the police
subprecinct, a kilometer away, to report the attack.

Based on the autopsy issued by doctors at the Cipto
Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Tampubolon's death was caused by
the nine severe stabs under his right armpit, City Police chief
Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto told a press conference on
Wednesday.

Pre-reconstruction

On Thursday at around 4 p.m., police investigators arranged a
pre-reconstruction of the killing.

A reliable source who was at the scene told the Post yesterday
that the pre-reconstruction revealed different information than
the police announced to the press on Wednesday.

"Tampubolon was stabbed by one of the suspects right after he
got out of the car through the left door of his sedan. He then
ran after the attacker," said the source, who refused to be
identified.

He said that Tampubolon was not able to defend himself when
the other suspects, who were waiting on the other side of the
road, came to help their friend.

On the same day, the police also questioned a relative of one
of the suspects believed to have washed the suspect's clothes and
thrown away his knife.

During the press conference Wednesday, the police refused to
show the clothes the suspects clothes.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. A. Latief Rabar declined to
comment on the refusal.

"Everything is clear enough," he said.

In another development, the city police squad has seized
thousands of bottles of alcoholic drinks sold at unlicensed
stalls in the city since the day of Tampubolon's killing.

"We all know that the killing of the general was conducted by
a group of young men who had drunk alcoholic beverages," head of
the on-the-alert police squad, Col. Heniyoso G., told reporters.

According to Capt. Syaiful Bd., who heads the round-the-clock
operation, the drinks were of a variety of imported brand names,
such as Mansion House, Double Kiwi, McDonald Whisky, and local
ones, including the Anggur Cap Orang Tua, Kamput (White Goats),
Anggur Merah and Anggur Putih wines.

About 70 personnel were assigned to the operation, which will
be made a permanent activity of the squad.(bsr)