Morning Star, 01-14-06 06:15 AM EST
Lawyer: Indonesia Murder Suspects Lured On False Promises
JAKARTA (AP)--The men accused of killing two U.S. teachers in Indonesia agreed to
meet FBI agents at a hotel in remote Papua province because they were told they
were going to be sent to the United States for trial, one of their lawyers said Saturday.
But when the suspects arrived! at the Amole II Hotel in Timika Wednesday evening,
the agents shoved them into a container truck and delivered them to Indonesian
police, said Anum Siregar. He accused the FBI of entrapment.
U.S. and Indonesian authorities denied the allegation.
The eight suspects now in police custody include Anthonius Wamang, indicted by a
U.S. grand jury in 2004 for the murders of Rickey Lynn Spier, 44, of Littleton,
Colorado, and Leon Edwin Burgon, 71, of Sunriver, Oregon.
The teachers' vehicle came under fire as they returned from a picnic close to a
massive gold mine owned by New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper and
Gold Mine Inc. (FCX) in Papua province in 2002.
Suspicion that Indonesian security forces may have been involved chilled relations
with Washington, which had already cut military ties with the Southeast Asian nation
over human rights concerns.
The FBI, working closely with Indonesian police, found no evidence implicating the
military and in November full ties were restored - largely because Washington wants
to help the mostly Muslim Indonesia fight terrorism.
The eight suspects were flown Saturday to the capital Jakarta, where they will be
questioned by police, said national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam.
Siregar said the suspects, described as Papuan separatists, agreed to meet U.S.
agents at the hotel because they were told they would be brought to the U.S. for trial.
They were eager to go, he said, and had already packed their bags and said goodbye
to their families.
"They were promised that once in U.S. custody they could speak freely and that their
safety would be guaranteed," Siregar said. "They were even told they would be given
daily allowances ! while in the United States."
Officials at the U.S. Embassy and Alam, the police spokesman, said while the two
sides worked together closely, this was not a case of bait-and-switch.
"We got the information that (the suspects) were gathering in the hotel, so we nabbed
them," said Alam. "We don't know anything about entrapment."
Some U.S. observers, meanwhile, said they wanted more details about Wednesday's
arrests to make sure the suspects weren't treated unfairly, and weren't targeted
simply because they opposed the government.
"There are so many unanswered questions in this case, including who these people
are and what role they may have had in these crimes," said Tim Rieser, an aide to
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy.
A tiny separatist movement has persisted in Papua province, the primitive,
resource-rich western half of New Guinea i! sland. Rights groups maintain that about
100,000 people have died as a result of military action or atrocities carried out by
Indonesian troops.
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