SUSPECTS IN TIMIKA KILLING MOVED TO JAKARTA
The Jakarta Post - January 16, 2006Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Eight men arrested in connection with the murder of two American
teachers and their Indonesian colleague in Papua over three years ago
have been flown to Jakarta for further questioning, Albert Rumbekwan,
one of their lawyers, says.
They were flown on Saturday at 4 p.m. Papuan time on a Fokker 50
airplane belonging to the National Police under the the escort of men
from Papuan Police Detachment 88, after being transferred by helicopter
from police headquarters here to Sentani Airport.
The police were forced to transport the suspects by helicopter as the
road to the airport was blocked by hundreds of angry protesters, who
were against the transfer.
Albert said the suspects' lawyers were also against the move, which was
"not done in the open", despite assurances from Papua Police chief of
crime investigation Sr. Comr. M. Situmorang to the contrary.
"We feel we are being cheated as the police moved them without informing us," Albert told The Jakarta Post.
The suspects were transported overland to Trikora Military District Command headquarters before boarding the helicopter.
During the rally, the protesters grouped in the United Front for the
Struggle of the West Papuan People, blocked the road in front of
Cendrawasih University, demanding the eight be questioned in Jayapura
and tried in Timika, where the incident happened.
"Why should the police move the suspects to Jakarta if they can be
tried in Papua?" Selpius Bobii, secretary-general of the front, asked.
The teachers were returning from a picnic on Aug. 31 2002, when their
convoy was ambushed near the Grasberg mine in Timika, on a road owned
by PT Freeport Indonesia. Two hundred rounds were fired in the attack,
killing the American teachers -- Rickey Lynn Spier and Leon Edwin
Burgon -- and Indonesian Bambang Riswanto. Eleven others were injured,
mostly Americans.
Through tough negotiations with Jayapura Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr.
Paulus Waterpauw and Jayapura District Military Commander Lt. Col. CHB
Viktor Tobing, the protesters agreed to disperse if Paulus signed a
statement calling off the transfer.
Before the statement was delivered, however, the suspects had left for Jakarta.
"We were cheated," Albert reiterated.
Meanwhile, Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tomy Tider Jacobus said the
transfer would speed up the investigation, which had been hampered by
the departure of many witnesses from Papua, some of whom returned to
the United States.
Situmorang said the eight suspects would be treated well and returned to Papua upon the completion of the legal process.
The team of lawyers is expected to travel to Jakarta as the Papuan Police chief has given them three plane tickets.
Antonius Wamang, the main suspect in the killings, and 11 other members
of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) were arrested on Wednesday
in an operation involving officers from the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI).
Four have been released by the police while the other eight suspects, including Wamang, have been officially named suspects.
Source: The Jakarta Post -- http://www.thejakartapost.com