Dutch Court Rejects Demand for Indonesia President's Arrest
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A Dutch judge on Wednesday turned down demands by a separatist group for the arrest of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia on charges of human rights abuse if he set foot in the Netherlands, a court spokeswoman said.
The judge's decision came a day after Mr. Yudhoyono abruptly postponed a state visit to the Netherlands after three Dutch citizens supporting Moluccan separatists filed claims seeking his arrest on Dutch soil.
"The judge has denied the requests," the spokeswoman for the district court in The Hague said. A list of civil complaints were filed at the court, not against the Indonesian president but against the Dutch government, she said. The complaints demanded that the government move to arrest Mr. Yudhoyono.
Even if the visit had gone ahead, Mr. Yudhoyono would have been protected by diplomatic immunity, Dutch officials said. The demand for his arrest was widely portrayed in the Netherlands as an effort by the separatists' supporters to secure publicity for their cause.
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen of the Netherlands said his government had assured Indonesia that the president's immunity could not be challenged by a claim filed in a district court.
"As head of state he would be legally untouchable," Mr. Verhagen said.
A flurry of diplomatic activity leading up the president's scheduled departure -- the visit was to have begun on Wednesday -- failed to save the situation. Indonesia demanded that the Dutch government void the claim filed by the citizens group, while Dutch officials explained that this was up to an independent court, not the government. At the same time, the Dutch government, through its lawyers, pressed the local court in The Hague to speed up its ruling, but the court said it could reach a decision no earlier than Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday, before boarding the presidential plane at Halim Perdana Kusama Airport near Jakarta, Mr. Yudhoyono told reporters, "For Indonesia, for me, if this lawsuit is held while I'm visiting, that concerns our self-respect as a nation, it concerns our honor as a nation."
First Published October 7, 2010 2:01 am
