TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Polri), Gen. Tito Karnavian has said that authorities are still looking into the video testimony shot by Freddy Budiman - who met the firing squad a few weeks ago. According to Tito, the video has been handed over to the Ministry of Politics, Law and Human Rights Affairs' Fact Finding Team on Thursday, August, 25, 2016.
"We have received a copy, and we will thoroughly cross-examine the video - and so will the Fact Finding Team," said Tito at the Coordinating Ministry for Politics, Law and Security Affairs Complex in Jakarta on Friday, August 26, 2016.
Upon being asked about the truth behind several allegations that members of the Police force were involved, Tito declined to comment. "No one is privy to that information at present as it is a subject of an ongoing investigation," said Tito.
Previously, the Fact Finding Team's Chief Comr. Genr. Dwi Prayitno said that the video testimony made by Freddy Budiman - who was executed at the end of July 2016, - is currently being cross-examined to determine whether further criminal charges could be pursued.
The Fact Finding Team, he said, has gathered some information about the meeting between the Coordinator for the Commission for the Missing and Victims of Violence (KontraS), Haris Azhar with Freddy at the Nusa Kambangan Correctional Facility. "There was indeed a meeting between both persons, and we have made our own notes about the meeting," he said.
Investigators are now zooming in on Freddy's brother for further testimonies and are currently cross-examining the plea bargains made by a related gang of smugglers that were arrested in 2011. Prayitno also said that the Team will continue to work along with the Chief of the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNN) Gen. Budi Waseso, as well as the Indonesian Army (TNI), who has launched its own investigation into the matter.
Prayitno has promised to announce the results of his Team's mission. "To date, we have yet to be able to prove that there were funds that were channeled into any account belonging to a particular member in the structure of National Police," he said. "What he had said in the tape, must also be put into scrutiny."
YOHANES PASKALIS
