Agus Maryono, Cilacap – Banyumas Muhammadiyah student activists initiated on Friday a movement to collect 1,000 bananas as a show of support for Kuatno, a man charged with stealing 15 banana bunches in Cilacap, Central Java.

The activists set up a post in front of SMA Muhammadiyah high school in Purwokerto, Central Java. "We are hoping that residents aware of this banana case will be willing to donate bananas to us at this post," movement coordinator Irfan Fatkhurohman said.

Irfan added that the activists would send the bananas to the Cilacap Police and the National Police headquarters.

This latest protest movement comes hot on the heels of a similar movement after a 15-year-old boy, identified as A.A.L., went on trial in which he faced a five year prison sentence for stealing a pair of flip-flops belonging to a police officer.

Kuatno and his friend, Topan, have been in police detention since Nov. 11, 2011, when they were caught red-handed stealing bananas in Kalisabuk. They admitted to stealing nine bunches of bananas but police said they found 15 bunches in their possession.

Meanwhile, the Cilacap Prosecutors' Office did not want to accept the police dossiers on the two alleged banana thieves on Friday because the alleged perpetrators had been declared mentally ill by a team of psychologists at Cilacap General Hospital.

"We've been informed that the two suspects – Kuatno, 22, and Topan, 25 – suffer from mental retardation. Therefore, we do not want to accept the two suspects and their evidence from the police," head of the prosecutors' office Silijati said.

Silijati said that the two suspects and their dossiers had been handed over to her office by the police, who had deemed the data complete. Responding to several media reports that the two suspected thieves were mentally handicapped, the prosecutors' office arranged for the pair to undergo medical tests.

"This was done because the dossiers had not included the results of the health and psychology examinations conducted by the investigators," Sulijati said.

News reports in Banyumas said that the Cilacap Police had detained the two alleged banana thieves. One media outlet even referred to the two men as "idiots".

However, Cilacap Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Rudi Darmoko denied that the two were mentally ill. "The media report is not true. Based on our investigation, both Kuatno and Topan are normal," he said.

The two suspects, residents of Martasinga village in Cilacap, were detained after they were reported to the police by Mungalim, a resident of the neighboring village of Kalisabuk. The informer said that the two men had stolen 15 banana bunches from him.

On Friday evening, the police insisted that the prosecutors' office accept the dossiers and the latter finally accepted them, but immediately freed the suspects in a bid to close the case.