E/CN.4/2000/4/Add.2
page 15
57.
These individuals - Raharjo Waluyo Djati, Faisol Reza, Nezar Patria and
Aan Rusdianto - informed the Group that throughout their detention, they were
not told the legal basis for their arrest, were denied access to a lawyer and
to relatives, and were not brought before a judge or other officer authorized
by law to exercise judicial power. They were released without charge, trial
or judgment and returned to their families. A group of approximately one
dozen other political activists apprehended in similar circumstances have
“disappeared”. The Group considers that on the basis of the information
before it, there was no legal basis that would have justified the detention of
the above-mentioned individuals. This is corroborated by the fact that,
subsequently, 11 members of KOPASSUS were charged and are facing trial for
their role in the abduction of these and, apparently, the disappeared,
individuals, a measure which the Group welcomes.
58.
In Baucau, East Timor, the delegation visited the Armed Forces local
intelligence headquarters known as the “Red House” (“Rumah Merah”, see para.
48 above). The officer in charge of the facility did not hide the fact that
while “Rumah Merah” was now only used as an intelligence facility, it had been
used until mid-1998 as a detention centre for East Timorese rebels. According
to the officer, rebels apprehended by the military would be “guided and
investigated”. If crimes were involved, they would be handed over to the
police, accompanied by a report; those detainees would subsequently be
charged. If not, they would be kept at “Rumah Merah” for periods of between
one and three months for purposes of “rehabilitation”, in the circumstances
described in paragraph 44 above. The Deputy Regional Commander for the
Uduayama Regional Military Command and the Regional Military Commander for
East Timor confirmed that the facilities at Rumah Merah had been used for the
purposes of “rehabilitation” of individuals suspected of supporting the
Timorese guerrilla. The delegation was shown the interrogation and discharge
forms concerning a Timorese man who had been apprehended and investigated on
suspicion of links with a local rebel group. Neither form mentions any legal
provisions under which he might have been justifiably arrested and charged.
He was discharged and returned to his family after having been detained for
more than 80 days. It follows from these observations that, firstly, this
method is geared more towards incitement to denunciation than to
rehabilitation and that, secondly, the detention of these individuals who have
never been charged under the Indonesian Criminal Code nor tried, is manifestly
devoid of any legal basis.
59.
The Working Group therefore considers that such detention for
“rehabilitation purposes” must be deemed to constitute arbitrary detention
within the meaning of Category I of its methods of work.
Category II
60.
Included in this category are cases of deprivation of liberty resulting
from prosecution or conviction for activities which amount to the peaceful
exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and other fundamental rights
protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 5
61.
At Cipinang and Tanggeran prisons in Jakarta, the Group interviewed
eight detained members of the People’s Democratic Party (PRD) and the Center
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