On 28 July 1996, Subechi of the “Surabaya Post” daily and Adi Sutarwijono of the daily “Surya” were detained by police while covering a rally in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, around 800 kilometers east of Jakarta. Police reportedly thought they were protesters. They were tortured at the Surabaya military command. When they […]
On 28 July 1996, Subechi of the “Surabaya Post” daily and Adi
Sutarwijono of the daily “Surya” were detained by police while
covering a rally in Surabaya, the second largest city in
Indonesia, around 800 kilometers east of Jakarta. Police
reportedly thought they were protesters. They were tortured at the
Surabaya military command. When they said they were journalists,
some soldiers grabbed their heads and banged them on the wall a
number of times. When they fell to the ground, other soldiers
kicked them.
**Additions and clarification further to alerts dated
29 July and 1 August 1996**
The “questioning” ended at 15:00 hours, when two higher ranking
officers recognized that Sutarwijono and Subechi were journalists.
The officers gave them Rp 50,000 (around US$20) as “uang damai”
(“peaceful money”); uang damai is given as a symbol that the
problem has been peacefully solved. The local commander later came
again and added another Rp 20,000. The journalists, wanting to
leave the command as soon as possible, took the money and left the
site. They reportedly wanted to return the money to Maj. Gen. Imam
Utoyo, the East Java military commander.
To clarify an incident reported in IFEX alert of 1 August,
Associated Press (APTV) television reporter Andreas Harsono
reports that, although his camera was seized on 27 July, he was
not beaten as was reported by several sources. Soldiers seized his
camera and dragged him away from filming in front of Indonesian
Democracy Party (PDI) headquarters. Two hours later, while filming
in another location, Harsono fell because of a cramp, but says he
was not beaten.
