ANTARA, October 6, 2006
Dominggus' family does not want any autopsy, police chief says
Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Police Chief
Brig Gen Robertus Belarminus Sadarum said the extended family of the late
Dominggus da Silva in Maumere, Sikka District, Flores Island, had no intention of
conducting an autopsy on Dominggus' body.
"They don't at all want to have Dominggus' body subjected to an autopsy,"Sadarum
said here on Thursday.
Previously, lawyers from the Indonesian Advocacy Services for Justice and Peace
(Padma) had asked the police not to thwart the wish of Dominggus' family to exhume
his body for an autopsy for legal and human rights-related purposes.
"We have never tried to prevent Dominggus' family from conducting an autopsy on his
body but it is they themselves who do not want it,"he added.
"If they want to have an autopsy done on Dominggus' body for a further investigation,
we will not forbid them , it is their right to do so. But the fact is , they are not willing to
dig up Dominggus' body for an autopsy,"he said.
Earlier, Padma lawayers said in a statement that the execution of da Silava and his
two associates - Fabianus Tibo and Marinus Riwu - on September 22 was done in
violation of standard procedure.
"Tibo, Dominggus and Marinus were each shot five times while according to standard
procedure, they should have been shot only once,"Roy Rening, coordinator of the
Padma lawyers team, said.
When Dominggus' body was cleaned in a hospital in Palu, Central Sulawesi, before
its transfer to Maumere, relatives noticed five bullet wounds in his chest.
Consequently, Dominggus' family had at first wanted to have an autopsy on his body
to ascertain the truth of the initial information. However, based on the customs and
culture of the Sikka tribe and Catholic teachings, they eventually decided that digging
up a dead person from his or her grave was taboo, Sadarum said.(*)
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