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Inactive Langkat regent named suspect in illegal imprisonment case
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A police officer inspects one of the iron-barred cells at the house of graft suspect and inactive Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Perangin-Angin in North Sumatra.
(Antara/Oman)
A
fter four months of investigation, the North Sumatra Police have finally named graft suspect and inactive Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Perangin-Angin a suspect in the deaths and illegal incarceration of people at his residence.
Terbit is charged with, among other crimes, human-trafficking violations that resulted in serious injury and death, fatal torture, false imprisonment and group violence. Several of these charges carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Panca Putra Simanjuntak said they had enough evidence and had coordinated their findings with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).
“He is the owner [of the caged cells] and is responsible for [what happened] there,” Panca told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
The police had previously named eight suspects – including Terbit’s son Dewa – for allegedly being the caretakers of the iron-barred cells and for involvement in the incarceration that led to the deaths of at least three victims.
The cages were discovered not long after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested the then-regent in January for allegedly demanding kickbacks from private contractors in exchange for infrastructure projects.
The KPK and North Sumatra Police found two cages in Terbit’s house that held dozens of people who are thought to have been forced to work on his oil palm plantation and they began a separate investigation into the matter.
