Investigation into the suspicious death of Police Brigadier J enters its second month today, with the first month bookended by the naming of another suspect in a murder case that has gripped the nation.
The National Police yesterday announced that it has arrested and charged charged another cop, identified as Brigadier RR, with premeditated murder. The charge carries death penalty as the maximum punishment.
Police initially said that Brigadier J, whose full name has been disclosed as Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, was gunned down by his colleague, Private Second Class E, at the South Jakarta home of their boss, Internal Affairs Division Chief Inspector General Ferdy Sambo, on July 8. The official line from the police is that J had molested Ferdy’s wife and threatened to kill her, before firing at E first after he was caught.
E was not charged at first as police said he had acted in self defense. However, as public pressure grew on the police to investigate the case in a transparent manner amid discrepancies in forensic findings and witness testimonies, as well as suspicions of evidence tampering, E was eventually charged with the murder of Yosua.
E’s lawyer today said there was no shootout at all between his client and Yosua on July 8. Instead, he said the gunshots were part of an elaborate staging of a crime scene. The lawyer also said E has filed a request with prosecutors to be a justice collaborator in the case as he feels he has been thrown under the bus.
It should be noted that E’s filing such request would mean an admission of wrongdoing or, at the very least, some sort of involvement in Yosua’s murder.
RR, meanwhile, was identified as the personal aide to Ferdy Sambo’s wife. The National Police Commission (Kompolnas) said more suspects in the case may be announced soon.
The motive for Yosua’s murder has yet to be established.
Other than the murder charges for the two suspects, Inspector General Ferdy Sambo was also suspended from the force for “unprofessionalism”, as investigators suspect that the internal affairs chief ordered for the eradication of CCTV footage at the scene.
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