Kamis, 17 Mei 2012

[inti-net] Three Convicted Killers of Maluku Journalist Escape

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/media/three-convicted-killers-of-maluku-journalist-escape/518305?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jgnewsletter

Three Convicted Killers of Maluku Journalist Escape
Erwida Maulia & Anita Rachman | May 16, 2012

Members of the Anti-Violence Journalists Solidarity (Sowak) stage a rally in front of the National Police headquarters in Jakarta on March 11, 2011, after the Tual District Court acquitted three men of murdering Sun TV reporter Ridwan Salamun during a riot in Tual, Maluku, in August 2010. (Antara Photo/Dhoni Setiawan)
Three men convicted of killing a Sun TV reporter during a riot in the Maluku town of Tual in 2010 have escaped after prosecutors failed to quickly send them to prison.

The Supreme Court sentenced the three men to four years in jail earlier this year, and the Maluku prosecutors' office received a copy of the verdict on April 16, according to Insany Syahbarwaty, the head of the Ambon branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

"Prosecutors, however, only sent a letter to the head of Fiditan Bawah village [where the three murder convicts lived], telling him to hand over the three, when it's obvious they should have arrested the three convicts with the help of local police," Insany said in a press statement on Wednesday.

The three men are Ibrahim Raharusun, Hasan Tamnge and Sahar Renuat.

They had been arrested in relation to the death of Ridwan Salamun, a journalist with Sun TV, now re-named Sindo TV, who was killed while covering the clash between residents of Fiditan and Banda Eli villages in Tual on August 21, 2010.

The three, however, were acquitted by the Tual District Court in March of last year. The Supreme Court decision overturned the acquittal.

Insany alleged a conspiracy behind the murder case, citing the Tual court's acquittal and the prosecutors' reluctance in following-up the Supreme Court verdict.

"This will serve as a bad precedent for law enforcers, who haven't been pro-justice in the case of Ridwan's death. There is discrimination and injustice here."

Insany added AJI Ambon would continue to scrutinize the case, and demanded the Maluku prosecutors' office sanction prosecutors responsible for the imprisonment of the three convicts.

"AJI Ambon also urges the Maluku Police chief to immediately include the three convicts in the wanted list, and search for them," she said.

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