TNI to send legal notification to the Washington Post

Lawyers representing Military Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto announced on Thursday that they would send a legal notification to express their client's objection to U.S.-based The Washington Post for reporting in its Nov. 2 edition that had he ordered an ambush on two buses near the PTFreeport mining company in Papua in August.

A team of lawyers, including veteran lawyers Trimoelja D. Soerjadi and Frans Hendra Winata, said they would file suit against the newspaper if it refused to apologize for the article.

"We will send a legal notification first. If they refuse to respond, we will lodge a lawsuit," Trimoelja said at a press conference in the military headquarters in East Jakarta, reported by El Shinta radio station.

During the news conference, Endriartono said the American newspaper had published a lie as he had never planned nor discussed the ambush against Freeport employees.

The newspaper cited an anonymous U.S. official andintelligence reports from the U.S. and Australia.

"The report is a complete lie. Therefore, the military willever issued the statements. The report may ruin Indonesia's relations with the U.S. and Australia," he said.

The Papua Police are currently investigating the case. At least three people, including two Americans, were killed and dozens of others were injured in the attack the Indonesian Military (TNI) has blamed on a poorly organized secessionist movement.(*)