E/CN.4/2000/4/Add.2 page 11 The Anti-Subversion Law (Presidential Decree 11/1963) 42. This law allows the detention of a person for a period of one year without warrant. Detention can be renewed - in practice without any limit. Application of this law has been suspended but its abrogation, which had been announced by President Habibie, has not yet taken place, in particular because of controversy over the extent of abrogation. For example, it is envisaged by some that certain articles of this law should be incorporated in the draft criminal code currently under discussion, especially those articles concerning acts against State security or the ideology of the State (Pancasila3) or acts of espionage and sabotage. The proponents of pure and simple abrogation of the law consider that if these provisions were to be incorporated in the new Criminal Code, it would be necessary, on the one hand, for these offences to be defined much more restrictively than in the current Anti-Subversion Law and, on the other hand, for the applicable procedure for prosecuting these offences to be governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure. The special military operation zones (Daerah Operasi Militer (DOM) ) 43. The proclamation of these zones, whose objective is said to be to “preserve security in a dangerous area”, does not appear to have any legal basis. Certain military authorities invoke, without any other clarification, “the duty of the armed forces to preserve the national unity”. Others argue that Law No. 16/1960 governing the provision of assistance to the army to the regional authorities and Law No. 28/1997 on assistance to the police provide an indirect legal basis for the proclamation of these zones. In practice, the proclamation of such a zone, which is made without any legal formality, results from a decision of the Minister of Defence which is relayed to the military commander of the regional military zone. The decision is not published in the Official Journal and the length of time during which it will apply is not specified. The population only learns about it through hearsay or by witnessing the progressive arrival and stationing of special military units. This DOM status applied in the provinces of Aceh, Irian Jaya and East Timor. 44. Where the DOM status applied, the police, in principle, kept their legal prerogatives but, de facto, it was the army that made the majority of arrests. At present, in principle, if the case is one of common delinquency, it is transferred within 24 hours to the police and the procedure thereafter followed civil law rules. If, however, the case concerns an individual accused of being linked to “subversion”, the investigation was conducted by a special investigation service of the armed forces (KOPASSUS). Following a directive of the Minister of Justice, DOM status was recently replaced by that of “Critical Control Area” (Pengavalair Daerah Rawan); this has the object of giving priority to pacification operations, through development and rehabilitation, but the status of Critical Control Area does not clarify the role of the armed forces in the event of arrest. 45. Currently, anti-guerrilla units only intervene in the event of trouble or riots and thus are no longer stationed permanently in the areas concerned. On the other hand, the armed forces can detain individuals suspected of having