"I hope all sides would support the upholding of the law and learn a lesson from the incident so that the people will lead more orderly life in our country," President Yudhoyono said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that all sides, particularly the police and the military, must learn a lesson from recent shooting incident at Cebongan prison so that the same thing would not be repeated.

"I hope all sides would support the upholding of the law and learn a lesson from the incident so that the people will lead more orderly life in our country," the president told the press after attending the Friday prayer at the Presidential Palace complex here on Friday.

The president said that he supported the steps taken by the military and the police in upholding the law. "Give them ample room to work professionally."

He said that soon after he got information from the military and the police on the shooting at the Cebongan penitentiary, he instructed that the incident should be handled soon.

"I make the instruction (to the police and the military) to professionally disclose and arrest the perpetrators, bring them to justice and uphold the law," the president said.

He said that it should not happen that the state was accused of condoning the incident and ignoring justice and low enforcement.

"We follow the process of all steps. The military, the Army in particular, already took the initiative to set up an investigation team while the police are continuing their investigation," Yudhoyono said.

He said that the esprit de corps should be used for positive things, not negative ones. "Taking the law on one`s hand is not justified in a country governed based on the law," he said.

He added: "I know that the incident had taken place because there was corps solidarity. There was the behavior of a group of people who were called thugs who sadistically killed a member of the Army`s Special Forces (Kopassus). That raised the sense of their corps solidarity and fueled their emotion. They then took an action (attack detainees at Cebongan prison), which could neither be justified."

The president said that the perpetrators had admitted their acts and of course they must face a legal sanction.

"I have received reports that all of the soldiers who launched the attack are willing to be responsible for their deeds and are ready to accept whatever legal sanction to be taken against them. Their commandants are also ready to take responsibility," the president said.

On March 23 a group of armed and masked men raided the penitentiary and shot to death four detainees police had put there after they were arrested for alleged involvement in a fight that led to the death of a member of an army`s special forces Kopassus at Hugo`s Cafe in Sleman.

On Thursday, (April 4), Army investigators confirmed that 11 members of Army`s Special Forces (Kopassus) were behind the killing of four detainees at a penitentiary in Cebongan, Sleman, Yogyakarta, recently.

"Eleven members of Kopassus have been involved in the raid at the Cebongan penitentiary. One of them acted as the executor and eight others as supporters while two others had sought to prevent their action," the chief of army investigators for the case, Brigadier General Unggul K Yudhoyono said at a press conference.

He said the eight who had acted as supporters arrived in two cars namely blue Avanza and black APV vans while two others who had tried to prevent the action in a Feroza jeep.

"The executor is known by his initial as U. Nine of them are non-commissioned and enlisted officers," he said.

Unggul said that two of them had actually tried to prevent the attack but failed.

He said the attack was done spontaneously in response to the killing of Kopassus member chief sergeant Heru Santoso at Hugo`s Cafe on March 19 and an attack on former Kopassus member first sergeant Sriyono by the four thugs.

"It is true the raid on the Cebongan penitentiary was done in response to the attack by the thugs on their colleagues that led to the death of them (Heru Santoso)," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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