Police Suspect Premeditated Murder

IRMA TAMBUNAN

Keluarga memegang foto Brigadir Nofriansyah, Selasa (12/7/2022) di rumah duka di Muaro Jambi. Nofriansyah tewas di rumah Kepala Divisi Profesi dan Pengamanan Mabes Polri Inspektur Jenderal Ferdy Sambo di Jakarta, Jumat lalu. Keluarga mendesak pengusutan serius di balik peristiwa itu.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The day after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo appealed for the case of police officer Brigadier J or Nofriansyah Josua Hutabarat’s death to be thoroughly investigated, police have now raised their investigation status to an examination into alleged premeditated murder following the finding of criminal evidences in the case.

The announcement of the latest status of the police’s investigation coincidentally came after Brigadier J's family’s lawyer team filed a report with the police about the alleged premeditated murder.

“This shows that [police] investigating team [formed by the National Police chief] is working quickly. However, [we stick to] the principles of scientific proof," police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said in Jakarta on Friday (22/7/2022).

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While investigators are now moving their investigation into uncovering the murder perpetrators, there has been no mention yet of suspects.

The lawyer team of Nofriansyah's family reported the alleged premeditated murder and gross torture that led to the death of Nofriansyah, to the police’s criminal investigation unit on Monday (18/7).

They suspected the victim had been murdered by more than one perpetrator.

They included in the report a bundle of evidence, such as photos showing cuts and bruises on several parts of the victim's body they believed to be traces of physical torture. They suspected the victim had been murdered by more than one perpetrator.

The lawyer team’s lawsuit was in contention against the police’s previous report that Nofriansyah had been killed in a shootout incident on Friday (8/7) with fellow police officer, identified as Sec. Prvt. (Bharada) E, at the official retreat of Insp. Gen. Ferdy Sambo, who has now been suspended as the police’s internal affairs chief. The fire exchange was reported to have been triggered by Nofriansyah’s attempted sexual assault of Ferdy's wife, Putri Candrawathi, in her room.

National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo has suspended not only Ferdy from his position, but also internal security bureau chief Brig. Gen. Hendra Kurniawan and South Jakarta police chief Sr. Comr. Budhi Herdi Susianto.

KOMPAS

The investigation into the case of Brigadier J's death at the official house of the Propam Police Headquarters is still in the process of investigating the crime scene, the results of the autopsy, and the examination of witnesses.

Regarding a second autopsy of Nofriansyah's body as requested by the family's lawyers, Dedi said it would be carried out as soon as possible to avoid possible complications in postmortem examining work due to corpse decomposition. The re-autopsy will be carried out in Jambi, where Nofriansyah's body was buried.

He said the autopsy would involve seven forensic experts from the Indonesian Forensic Medicine Association as well as the National Police. He added that the police were also open to the possibility of involving forensic experts from the Indonesian Military (TNI).

TNI chief Gen. Andika Perkasa stated that they were ready to assign forensic doctors to help, if asked. He said he would choose himself the forensic doctors based on by their expertise and experience in order

to ensure there was no intervention from anyone. The military has not received the request for autopsy involvement, either from the victim's family or the police.

Nofriansyah’s smartphones

In addition to the re-autopsy plan, as Dedi said, investigators have secured two cell phones belonging to Nofriansyah and confiscated a set of surveillance camera (CCTV) with footage of Nofriansyah escorting Ferdy and Putri to Magelang, Central Java. The two pieces of evidences are being examined at the police’s Forensic Laboratory Center.

The family was accompanied by a team of lawyers led by Kamarudin Simanjuntak.

The investigation continued in Jambi with police investigators gathering information from Nofriansyah's family at the Jambi police headquarters on Friday (22/7). Brig. Gen. Agus Suharnoko, a senior investigator with police’s Criminal Investigation Unit, said that the eight-strong investigating team had been interrogating the family members beginning Friday morning. The family was accompanied by a team of lawyers led by Kamarudin Simanjuntak.

As the questioning was reportedly still going on, Agus said they had no account yet to be released. "It’s still under process. [We will provide it later] when it's done," he said.

Perpetrator’s confession

Head of the lawyer team Kamarudin said they had submitted dozens of photos and videos he believed to be strong evidence. In addition to cuts and bruises, the photos and videos, he said, also showed the victim's leg to be bent.

He said the police’s decision to raise the investigation status to a criminal examination had been taken in accordance with sufficiently established evidence. He also said someone had confessed to committing the murder. "However, this is being held in secret for the purposes of the investigation," he said.

The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which is also investigating the case independently, said that it had gathered several important clues.

KOMPAS/NORBERTUS ARYA DWIANGGA MARTIAR

Atmosphere at the official house of the Head of the Professional and Security Division of the National Police Inspector General Ferdy Sambo

"The team has significant records about the injuries [on Nofriansyah's body] as to how and what [kinds of weapons] caused them, and when it occurred," said Komnas HAM commissioner Choirul Anam.

He said the commission had refrained from drawing a conclusion because the gathered records would have to be validated with a document from the police’s forensic doctors who had previously autopsied Nofriansyah's body. (NAD/ITA/BOW/EDN)

(This article was translated by Musthofid)