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TITLE: 'Koneksitas' Court for RATA Atrocity? |
AUTHOR: |
ORG: TAPOL |
DATE: February 23, 2001 |
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Authorities want RATA killings to be tried before a 'koneksitas' court. Strenuous efforts are under way in Aceh to bring people suspected of involvement in the brutal killing of RATA humanitarian activists before a 'koneksitas' court, and in this way prevent the case from being tried before an ad hoc human rights court as a crime against humanity.A 'koneksitas' court means that the military will be involved in the proceedings, ensuring that senior military officers who may have ordered the operation to kidnap and kill the RATA activists would be protected from indictment. Last year, the Bantaqiah killings when 57 people were murdered were taken to a 'koneksitas' court amid strong protest from local human rights organisations and ended in lower-ranking officers being penalised, while district military officers who ordered the operation were not in the dock. A Kontras Team has monitored police investigations of the case and warns that the police are pressing ahead quickly with their investigations which are in the hands of a 'koneksitas' investigation team, in preparation for a 'koneksitas' trial. This could pre-empt moves by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to press for an ad hoc human rights court to be set up, in accordance with the Human Rights Courts law adopted by the Indonesian Parliament last November. If Komnas HAM gets its way, this would be a landmark trial, the first based on the new law, setting an important precedent for other crimes of humanity in which members of the security forces were involved. Four activists of RATA, Rehabilitation Action for Torture Victims in Aceh, were kidnapped on 6 December last year and after several hours being driven from one place to another, including stops at local militay commands, they were shot dead in cold blood. One of the four managed to escape and has since testified about the atrocity, naming individuals who were part of the kidnap gang. Five weeks later, at a plenary meeting in Jakarta on 9 January, Komnas HAM decided to set up a Special Investigation Team - KPP HAM - as the first step towards taking the case to an ad hoc human rights court. But the police have been quick off the mark and now say they already have eight suspects in their sights, four civilians and four military. The four civilians have all been named but the police have so far failed to identify the military suspects. Head of Police Investigation in Banda Aceh, Chief Commissioner Drs Manahan Daulay, who described himself as head of the 'koneksitas' investigation team, told the Kontras Team that the four civilians had been interrogated, adding that the case would go to a 'koneksitas' court. All he would say about the other four suspects was that they were not from the police. The interrogation results would soon be passed on the the prosecutors office which would coordinate preparations with the Higher Military Tribunal. Local human rights organisations have strongly protested. Said Drs Nurdin AR, head of RATA: 'This case should not go to a 'koneksitas' court. It was a crime against humanity, a grave, systematic human rights violation. There are strong indications that the state was involved. It was a crime aimed at obstructing the activities of humanitarian workers,' he said. Head of the Komnas HAM office in Banda Aceh, Iqbal Farabi said that senior military officers were clearly involved above the men who carried out the operation, and their involvement can only be brought to light in an ad hoc human rights court. To do otherwise would fail to satisfy a sense of justice on the part of the victim and the families of the victims, and of the general public. To take such a case to a 'koneksitas' court would be highly damaging to the ad hoc human rights court legislation, said Iqbal. He said that if the case is rushed to a 'koneksitas' court, this would make it impossible, in accordance with the principle of 'double jeopardy', for the case to be tried later on in an ad hoc court. It would also damage the prospects ot taking other crimes against humanity to properly constituted human rights courts. Iqbal was also critical of Komnas HAM in Jakarta, complaining that the official in charge of facilitating the Commission's investigations had been tardy in pressing ahead with a formal decision to set up the KPP HAM. The facilitator, Muhammad Salim, was instructed to do this at the Commission's plenary meeting on 9 January but he has so far failed to follow up the decision and produce the necessary document. The Komnas HAM representative in Banda Aceh has been trying to block moves to take the case to a 'koneksitas' court. 'We have asked the prosecutor's office to hand over the results of the police investigations, so that they can be used as preliminary investigationsfor the Commiission's KPP HAM investigations,' said Iqbal. But the Komnas HAM delay has played into the hands of the police who now say that four suspects have been in custody for nearly two months and must be charged soon. Asked about the Commission's moves on the case, Manahan Daulay said that 'while they have been thinking about what to do, we have gone ahead'. He said the case will very soon go to the prosecutor, and denied that the police were under pressure from the military over the case because some members of the military are involved. If moves to try the case in a 'koneksitas' court go ahead, it will stand in the way of bringing senior army officers to book and would damage Indonesia's reputation in the eyes of the international community, say human rights activists in Aceh. TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign 111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon CR7 8HW, UK.tel 020 8771 2904 fax 020 8653 0322 e-mail: tapol@gn.apc.org END |