Members of the House of Representatives are currently deliberating the bill on Military Tribunal but are at odds with a well-known human rights organization over whether soldiers convicted of crimes should serve time in civilian prisons.
"The soldiers have been convicted of felonies and sentenced to more than five years," Chief of the special committee for the Military Court Bill Andreas Pareira told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
"They will not be able to serve the armed forces and so should be discharged to serve their time in civilian prisons," he said.
"But if they are sentenced to one year or less ... they could stay in a military prison."
But he said usually a felony would mean a longer prison term.
"We also have to think about rehabilitation counseling for them."
Andreas said previous discussions between the House and the government had determined counseling was required for soldiers serving time in prison.
"The counseling issue is a technical matter and we haven't discussed it much."
Advocacy coordinator for non-government human rights monitor Imparsial Donny Ardyanto said if a soldier was tried in a civilian court and convicted under civilian law, he should serve time in a civilian prison.
"However, if it is a military crime, it should be processed in a military court and the soldier should serve time in a military prison."
After a soldier had left a prison, there should be a review mechanism to determine whether or not he would be able to rejoin the military, Donny said.
"For example, if it was a petty crime with a short serving time, such as stealing a chicken, it might be better to just demote him and cut his salary, before allowing him back to the military."
He suggested a military honor council would act as an internal watchdog under the military chief and could make rulings on such matters.
"But we don't want the body to handle criminal actions. It would only rule on behavioral problems."
Imparsial also highlighted several things the bill had yet to cover, including a convict's rights in military courts.
Source : www.thejakartapost.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment