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Banten top cop axed over Ahmadiyah mayhem
The National Police have removed Banten Police chief Brig
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he National Police have removed Banten Police chief Brig. Gen Agus Kusnadi for allegedly failing to prevent religious unrest that killed three Ahmadis in the province.
Agus will be replaced by Jakarta Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Putut Eko Bayuseno.
Agus’s subordinate, Pandeglang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Alex Fauzi Rasyad, is to be replaced by Adj. Sr. Comr. Ady Soeseno who was previously head of the Banten narcotics division analysis unit.
“Agus will be moved to the position of an expert staffer under the National Police chief,” police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said Friday.
It is not clear when the swearing-in ceremony is to take place.
The police have so far questioned 25 witnesses related to the Cikeusik attack and have named five as suspects.
The Banten Police have come under fire after the footage circulating on YouTube captured images of police officers failing to stop angry mobs from lynching three Ahmadis in Cikeusik village, Pandeglang regency.
On Thursday, the National Police Supervisory Inspectorate said it was in the process of questioning the Banten Police chief and his subordinates in relation to their handling of the Cikeusik attack.
Inspectorate team leader Comr. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said the police would evaluate the Banten Police’s application of standard operating procedures in anticipating the attack. Should the team find any problems, it would hand down sanctions on those involved, he said.
The police have also named eight suspects in the vandalization of three churches in Temanggung, Central Java, which happened just two days after the Ahmadiyah attack in Banten. The Central Java Police arrested 24 new suspects, which took the total number of suspects in the case to 32.
Police arrested the suspects in Tretep, Temanggung, and took them to the Temanggung Police for questioning.
National Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar confirmed the arrests. “Yes, there are 24 [new suspects],” he said.
Boy said the assailants would be charged with violating the Criminal Code by participating in a violent mob, which carries a maximum sentence of five-and-a-half years in prison.
“Their names were mentioned during the questioning of other suspects,” Boy said as quoted by
tribunnews.com.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) took a man, identified only by the initial A, who recorded on video violence in Cikeusik, to the National Police for questioning as witness in the incident.
Komnas HAM deputy chairman Yosep Adi Prasetyo said he had obtained information that A had received threats to his safety.
Yosep said that the National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi had asked the commission not to take A to the press.
“This is for A’s own safety. We have received information that he has become a target so it would be better for him to remain anonymous,” Ito said as quoted by Yosep.
A lawyer for Ahmadiyah, Choirul Anam, said that although there were many police officers on the scene when three Ahmadis were killed in Banten on Sunday, officers quickly left the scene when the mayhem began. “This included two trucks [of police officers] and one minivan,” he said.
Choirul said this information was obtained in a recording made by an Ahmadi who was an eyewitness to the event. The police denied the allegations. “This did not happen,” Boy Rafli Amar said. “In fact, more officers were deployed,” he added.
