Indonesia declares suspects over Americans' killings
Saturday, January 14 2006 - 12:33 AM WIB
Police released the four others who had been held for the killing of the teachers from a school run by PT Freeport Indonesia, a unit of U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, which operates mines in the Papuan mountains.
Ties between Indonesia and the United States were strained after the incident in 2002, and in the next year Congress blocked some military training aid to Indonesia to show its displeasure.
Relations between Indonesia and the United States have improved since, and the arrests came after Washington restored military ties in November with the world's most populous Muslim nation as a reward for its help in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
"We are still detaining the eight people and (they) will be brought to Jakarta," national police deputy spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam told reporters.
"These eight people have been declared as suspects," Anton said, adding police may press charges on grounds of pre-meditatedmurder which carries a maximum death penalty.
He said none of them were members of Indonesia's military or police.
Indonesian police have said one of the detained was Anthonius Wamang, a separatist rebel indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in 2004 on two counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder in connection with the killings.
The investigation into the shooting was a key factor behind the U.S. decision to fully restore military ties with Indonesia.
Before the resumption, Washington had said full military ties required prosecution of the people behind the Papua killings.
Washington cut back military ties after Indonesian troops shot at demonstrators in East Timor in 1991, killing dozens, when the tiny territory was ruled by Jakarta.
Ties were severed after pro-Jakarta militias backed by elements in the military sacked East Timor in 1999 when the territory voted for independence. (*)