Police blame murder of Indonesia rape counselor on burglar

Family members, mourning the death of Haryono, stand in front of her coffin in Jakarta Saturday.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Police have arrested a man suspected of murdering a teen-ager who was counseling women raped during Indonesia's riots in May, and said his motive was robbery.

But another woman activist questioned that finding Sunday, saying nothing was stolen from the victim's home.

"This police statement is totally unbelievable," said Ratna Sarumpaet, an activist with National Coalition.

"Police were too quick to reach a conclusion that it was robbery. Given how many activists have been threatened, police have to look into this further," she said in an interview.

The body of Martadinata Haryono, 17, a counselor with the Volunteers for Humanity group, was found in her home Friday night. She had suffered many stab wounds and a slashed neck.

Police on Saturday arrested a neighbor of Haryono's, 22-year-old Suryadi, and said the unemployed man appears to have killed her when she found him robbing her home.

Police had first said that nothing was stolen from Haryono's home, but Jakarta's police spokesman, Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang, said Sunday that Suryadi was found with the victim's imitation jewelry and with his own clothes stained with blood.

Haryono's body was cremated Sunday during a Buddhist ceremony in northern Jakarta. As a wood fire burned beneath her coffin, about 100 mourners, including members of her Volunteers for Humanity group, wept and sang songs of mourning.

Haryono, the first activist to be killed since the May riots, was a member of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority. Other activists have received death threats from people demanding they stop counseling rape victims or investigating their cases.

Many ethnic Chinese homes and businesses were targeted by mobs that killed about 1,200 people during the widespread unrest, which led to the resignation of President Suharto.

Human rights groups say at least 168 women, mostly ethnic Chinese, were raped during the unrest.

The government has confirmed that rapes occurred, but doesn't know how many. The military and police have repeatedly said they have no hard evidence that sexual assault was widespread.