Police admit assault against researcher

Two of five officers from Beji Resort Police Office have admitted to have assaulted researcher and activist JJ Rizal during an operation to search for thieves in Depok on Saturday night.

In an internal disciplinary investigation session on Wednesday at the Depok Resort Police Office, the two policemen, namely First Brig. Antoni and Brig. M. Syahrir, had told investigators they were forced to beat and kick the researcher since he was trying to fight against them during the operation.

Antoni said that the researcher kept on denying he was one of the thieves the police were looking for.

“Rizal did not even believe we were police officers even though we had shown our identity cards,” Antoni said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He added that they had been provoked by Rizal's suspicious behaviour and thereby assaulted him.

Deputy chairman of the Depok Resort Police Office Adj. Comr. Ahmad Subarkah said the officers
had violated procedures of arrest in assaulting the researcher. (ewd)