Ary Hermawan, Jakarta Post – The National Commission on Human Rights says the current government is responsible for finding 13 democracy activists still missing after being abducted by state apparatus ahead of the 1998 fall of then president Soeharto.

"The Yudhoyono administration has the obligation to find them. It has the power to order... the police and the military, to rescue them," commission chief Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara said Friday. "We will file our findings with the president."

The commission reported that 13 people had been victims of abduction. They were identified as Yani Afrie, Sony, Herman Hendrawan, Dedi Hamdun, Noval Alkatiri, Ismail, Suyat, Petrus Bima Anugrah, Wiji Thukul, Ucok Munandar Siahaan, Hendra Hambali, Yadin Muhidin and Abdun Naser. "We don't know if they are alive or dead," Garuda said.

Commission deputy chief Zumrotin K. Susilo, however, said there were indications that Yani, Herman, Noval, Dedy and Sony were still being held at the Cijantung, East Jakarta, headquarters of the Army's Special Forces. "We have witnesses saying they communicated with them while they were being abducted," she said.

Garuda said the military figures responsible for the abductions were the then armed forces chief, Gen. (ret.) Wiranto, the then Army's Strategic Reserves Command head, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, and the then Jakarta military commander, Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsuddin, who is the current Defense Ministry secretary general.

During Friday's press conference, however, Garuda only announced the positions and titles of the men, not their names.

The commission said it would file its findings with the Attorney General's Office within a week. "We have preliminary evidence there had been human rights violations in abduction cases during the 1997 to 1998 period," he said.

Last year, the commission set up a team to investigate the disappearances of 44 people between April 1997 and May 1998. The team worked from Oct. 1, 2005 to Oct. 30, 2006, questioning 77 witnesses – 58 civilians, 18 police officers and one retired military officer. According to the commission, the military had released 10 of those abducted and killed one.

Garuda said the team had faced difficulties summoning military officials allegedly involved in the case. The military argued that the case could not be investigated under the 2000 Human Rights Tribunal Law. "The AGO gave the same reason when the commission asked for permission to visit places where the activists were detained," he said.

The missing activists are believed to have been abducted by the so-called "Rose" team, a squad of elite Special Forces who have already served brief sentences for abductions during the riots prior to Soeharto's downfall.

Activists have speculated that the abductees have been killed and their bodies destroyed. "If the government knows anything about their whereabouts, it must tell and return them to their families," Garuda said.

Previous investigations into the 1998 violence that have implicated Wiranto and the other generals have failed to result in any prosecutions.