The suspects, if proven quilty, face a maximum jail sentence of five years under articles 170 and 178 of the Criminal Code,"Sampang, E.Java (ANTARA News) - Sampang police have named three people as the main suspects over last Thursday`s (Dec 29) torching of a number of Shiite community buildings, and arrested one of them.
"The name of the suspect we have been able to arrest is Musrikan, We took him in last night," Senior Commissioner Rahmat Mulyana, public relations officer of the East Java Police Headquarters, told the press at the Sampang district police office here Saturday.
A Sunni crowd on Thursday rampaged through Sampang district`s Karang Gayam village and set fire to the house of the Shiite community leader, a Shiite prayer house and school building.
The two other main suspects - Muhlis and Sawir, were still at large and had been put on the police`s list of wanted persons, Rahmat said.
The police determined the suspects after conducting an investigation into the incident and questioning 15 out of 21 people they had planned to interview.
"The suspects, if proven quilty, face a maximum jail sentence of five years under articles 170 and 178 of the Criminal Code," Rahmat said.
The mob action in Karang Gayam village forced 270 out of the 351 Shiite residents of the village to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere. They were eventually given shelter at the Wijata Kusuma sports stadium located near the Sampang district chief`s office.
Relations between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Sampang have been marked by mutual intolerance since 2006 and last Thursday`s riot was triggered by a proselytizing dispute. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
