Soldiers arrested over Eluay death

By Don Greenlees, Jakarta correspondent 

THE Indonesian armed forces announced yesterday that three soldiers had been arrested by military police and were awaiting prosecution over the murder of Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay.

It was later confirmed by the commander of Kopassus, the army's special forces, Major General Amirul Isnaini, that the men in detention were members of the elite unit, but he refused to identify them or their ranks.

Eluay, the chairman of the Papuan Presidium and tribal council, was murdered in the provincial capital, Jayapura, on November 10 after joining a banquet at the local Kopassus headquarters. He was kidnapped while on the drive home and later found asphyxiated.

Until yesterday, Major General Isnaini had publicly rejected any suggestions that Kopassus soldiers could have carried out the assassination.

His admission follows separate investigations by the police in Jayapura and a national team appointed by President Megawati Sukarnoputri which both identified seven Kopassus soldiers as directly responsible for the killing. 

Sources familiar with those investigations say the most senior officer so far identified is Major Doni Hutabarat, the former deputy of the Kopassus unit in Jayapura. The others include a captain and non-commissioned personnel.

A statement released by the armed forces said that from the testimony of 100 witnesses and evidence obtained in connection with the murder, there was a "preliminary result" that pointed the blame at three soldiers. It did not say if there were plans to detain others.

Army chief General Endriartono Sutarto has previously admitted suspicions of Kopassus involvement and promised not to stand in the way of the prosecution of soldiers. But Papuan leaders and human rights activists are more concerned with the question of who ordered the killing rather than the junior personnel who carried it out.

Allegations have been aired in the local media that senior serving or retired military personnel planned Eluay's murder and ordered elements of Kopassus in Papua to put the operation into effect by cutting into the proper chain of command.