PTUN Says Attorney General Against Law, Anmesty Urges Government To Solve Trisakti-Semanggi Case

JAKARTA - Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid said that the decision of the State Administrative Court (PTUN) against Attorney General ST Burhanuddin was the door for the government to immediately complete the settlement of the Trisakti, Semanggi I, and Semanggi II cases.

In its decision, the PTUN stated that in January Burhanuddin made a statement against the law. At that time, Burhanuddin said that the shooting of students in the 1998 tragedy was not a serious human rights violation.

"The current court ruling should be used as a new moment to urge the government and the DPR to complete the settlement of the Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II cases," Usman said in a webinar discussion, Wednesday, November 4.

Usman asked the government to establish an ad hoc human rights court. This court was specially created to reveal the perpetrators of human rights violations in the Trisakti and Semanggi cases.

Law Number 26 of 2000 concerning Human Rights Courts, states that an ad hoc human rights court was formed at the suggestion of the House of Representatives based on certain events by a Presidential Decree and is located within the public court.

In addition, Usman also asked Attorney General ST Burhanuddin to investigate other incidents besides the shooting of students, which needed to be taken from the reports and recommendations of the joint fact-finding team.

"There are other recommendations regarding the ratification of civil and political rights that have been carried out by the government, but the most basic ones are the accountability of the perpetrators, the punishment of the perpetrators, which until today has not been realized by the state," he explained.

As is well known, in a DPR working meeting last January, Attorney General ST Burhanuddin stated that the shooting cases of students known as Semanggi I and II 1998 were not serious human rights violations, based on the results of the plenary session.