Police officers allegedly gave Rp 100 million ($7,619) to the family of Siyono, an alleged terrorist who died under suspicious circumstances in police custody, the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and Muslim organization Muhammadiyah announced on Monday.

The amount of money was revealed by Komnas HAM and the Muhammadiyah Central Committee for the first time on Monday during a press conference to announce Siyono’s autopsy results.

Two packages were given, each containing Rp 50 million in Rp 100,000 bills; one to Siyono's wife Suratmi and one his brother Wagiyono, Komnas HAM commissioner Siane Indriani said.

Female members of the National Police anti-terrorist squad Densus 88 are alleged to have given the first batch of money to Suratmi in an envelope when she had gone to see her deceased husband in hospital. The women handed the money to Suratmi and said that it was to help her raise her five children. The second batch was allegedly given to Wagiyono, Siyono's brother, to help with the burial process.

They both received the money without receipt, Siane said.

Both Suratmi and Wagiyono handed the envelopes, unopened, to Muhammadiyah and Komnas HAM when they reported the alleged torture Siyono underwent at the hands of Densus 88.

"Suratmi did not want the money," said M. Busyro Moqoddas, chairman of Legal and Human Rights at Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim organization.

Komnas HAM and Muhammadiyah will discuss the matter of the money further, said the former chairman of Corruption Eradication Commission.

The National Police announced that Siyono had died from a head trauma on March 11 during a fight with a security officer in a moving car.

National Police Spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan alleged that Siyono had held an important role in a Jamaah Islamiyah militant group.

Siyono was thought to know the location of the group’s weapons warehouse.

"There are grenades, ammunition and a weapons manufacturer in the building, collected to establish the Islamic State of Indonesia [NII]," Anton said last week as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The police voiced regret over Siyono's death as it meant end of the information chain regarding the whereabouts of the weapons warehouse and the group's activities.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Marguerite Afra Sapiie

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