Jakarta (Antara) – Former Army chief of staff for the Strategic Reserve Command Kivlan Zen was officially detained by the Metro Jaya Police on Thursday, May 30, after being questioned for 28 hours.

In the questioning, Kivlan Zen opened about the firearm he owned which police alleged was illegally obtained for the rally that into violent, known as the May 22 riots.

He professed to discuss plans on arming himself with his part-time personal driver Azwarmy or AZ, who is one of the six suspects on the case of illegal gun ownership.

Kivlan stressed that the firearm was solely obtained as a means of self-protection and not as a tool to carry out an assassination against a number of national figures as what police accuse him of.

"One of the four people Kivlan knows suggested he was a target to be obliterated, which is why they tried to protect Kivlan," said one of Kivlan's team of lawyers Burhanudin when Tempo reached out to him yesterday.

Asked whether an order was given by Kivlan to purchase such weapon, and its conformity with the three main pieces of evidence presented by the police in the form of three pistols and one long rifle, Burhanudin denied it.

"There was no such thing, the weapon itself that [police] presented was not the same with what they know of. It was a hunting rifle, not a military-grade firearm, it was even a small caliber [rifle]," he said.

Another member of Kivlan Zen's lawyers, Djudju Purwantoro, added that the small caliber rifle was actually a rifle used to protect his client's piece of land in Gunung Sindur, Bogor, from wild boars.

"That is why Armi, who's also the coordinator and owner of the security service company, offered a hunting rifle. That is what I am aware of," said Djudju.

Following his arrest on Thursday, Kivlan Zen faces charges up to 20-year of incarceration in violation of Article 1 (1) of Emergency Law No. 12/1951.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1211023/kivlan-zen-illegal-firearm-for-self-protection-not-assassination