Jakarta – A coalition of non-governmental organizations demanded Thursday that the Attorney General's Office (AGO) investigate the 1997/1998 forced disappearances of political activists.

This comes as the National Commission on Human Rights last week urged the Attorney General's Office to quiz four Army generals allegedly involved in gross human rights violations prior to the resignation of former president Soeharto.

The Association of Relatives of Victims of Forced Disappearance (Ikohi) claims that 14 of the abducted activists had died and nine were returned to their families by their abductors from the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus).

Several Kopassus officers were tried and convicted by a military tribunal in 1999 but activists are demanding that the masterminds be arrested and tried in the Human Rights Court.

"The state apparatus eliminated citizens for political goals and this is a crime against humanity," the NGO alliance said in a joint statement.

The alliance rejected Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono's claim that the case was closed with the 1999 conviction of the Kopassus members, saying the court failed to determine what happened to those who went missing.