P

olice say that the officer who allegedly raped a detainee in Poso, Central Sulawesi, will be tried on the basis of a complaint filed by another detainee after the victim’s family backed down.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli said on Monday that Chief Brig. A, assigned to the Poso Police Narcotics Unit, would be tried by a civilian court and a police ethics committee for allegedly raping an detainee identified as FM.

“Each officer must take responsibility for his actions. The National Police will not tolerate this,” Boy said at National Police headquarters in Jakarta.

The case was revealed by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Saturday in a report that said that Chief Brig. A raped FM, a 24-year-old drug suspect on Feb. 23 and 24, while strangling and pointing a gun to her head.

“If you dare open your mouth, I will shoot you here,” the police officer allegedly said to FM, Komnas HAM investigators said. The report also alleged that two other officers identified as D and C harassed the detainee.

Meanwhile, the family of FM said at a press conference with Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sisnadi that they had dropped their report, and that the current report against the officer was filed by another detainee, YT, 25.

Prosecution of police officer for rape on a third-party report will be problematic under the Criminal Code.

However, Sisnadi said that the suspect would be detained pending investigation of an “ethics code violation” when questioning FM, admitting that Chief Brig. A raped the victim after threatening her with a gun.

Sisnadi said the police quickly by detaining the perpetrator and completed an investigation, forwarding the officer’s case file to the Poso Prosecutor’s Office for pre-trial preparations.

Meanwhile, the director of the Central Sulawesi Women’s and Children’s Care Group (KPPA), Mutmainah Korona, said that she suspected that pressure had been applied by the police on the victim’s family to withdraw their report. “It is very unlikely that they would withdraw the report if there was no intimidation by the police,” Mutmainah said.

Mutmainah alleged that another police officer, identified as D, tried to rape FM, failing when she fought back. Mutmainah quoted FM as saying: “[D] also threatened me using a gun aimed at my head. He also wanted to rape me but failed. He was groping me instead.”

FM reportedly kept silent for about a month until she reported the rape to the KPPA, which in turn reported the allegations to Chief Brig. A’s commanding officer.

Mutmainah promised to protect and accompany FM as she resolved the case.

The head of the local office of the Indonesian Ombudsman, Sofyan Farid Lembah, said there had been violations of standard operating procedures for women detainees that led to human rights violations.

“We will go to Poso to ensure that there is enforcement in the case,” Sofyan said.

Both the KPPA and the Ombudsman demanded that Chief Brig. Ahmad be imprisoned and discharged from the police if convicted.

This is not the first allegation of rape involving women detainees or prisoners.

In April 2012, a police officer in Makassar, South Sulawesi reportedly harassed a female detainee, SW, for several days before trying to have sex with her.

Also in Makassar, a police officer was reportedly raped a woman in May 2012 whom he had known for only three days.

In January 2012, the Pangkal Pinang District Court in Bangka-Belitung Islands sent another police officer to prison for seven years after finding him to have raped a female detainee.