Jakarta – Human rights groups on Tuesday demanded the government investigate alleged judicial irregularities in the 1984 Priok Riot trials at the human rights ad hoc court between 2003 and 2005, claiming widespread corruption and a failure to bring perpetrators to justice.
The groups said the acquittal of 14 military personnel by the Supreme Court reflected undue influence by interested parties.
Beni Biki, the chairman of the Union of the Tanjung Priok Victims and Families, said elements of the military had attempted to interfere in the riot cases long before the trials began in 2003.
He cited the efforts of former vice president Gen. (ret.) Try Sutrisno – Jakarta Military District chief at the time of the riots – toward social reconciliation in 2001. "Money was offered and 85 of the more than 100 victims accepted it," Beni said.
"The Attorney General at the time, MA Rahman, made no serious efforts to solve the case, as can be seen from the fact that neither Try Sutrisno nor L.B. Moerdani were held responsible." Beni said during commemorations Tuesday to mark the 26th anniversary of the riots.
L.B. Moerdani was the Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces when the riots broke out.
The riots in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, on Sept. 12, 1984, broke out when military officers violently attacked Muslim protesters who rejected a new regulation forcing all mass organizations to adopt the state ideology Pancasila.
A 2000 report released by the National Commission on Human Rights claimed 24 people were killed, including Beni's brother, Amir Biki.
The commission alleged that 33 former military officials, including Try and Moerdani, were responsible for the tragedy. The Attorney General's Office, however, only named 14 suspects in the case.
Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, who served as commission chairman between 2002 and 2007, said prosecutors failed to explain why they named only 14 of the 33 people the commission believed should be held responsible for the bloody riots.
Papang Hidayat from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) insisted on exploring the possibility of re-opening the case.
"This was a crime against humanity under international law and has no statute of limitation. The possibility exists for a retrial with new or old suspects under new charges," he said.
Papang added that the AGO would play a vital role in uncovering what actually transpired and who was responsible. "We need a [new] attorney general who is sensitive to human rights issues," he said.
Papang said the career prosecutors recently nominated to succeed outgoing Attorney General Hendarman Supandji were poor choices because they had were not able to reform the AGO and tackle past human rights violations. (ind)