EXTERNAL

AI Index:ASA 21/10/91

Distrib:PG/SC

To:Medical professionals

From:Medical Office / Research Department - Asia

Date:1 July 1991

FOLLOW-UP TO MEDICAL LETTER WRITING ACTION

(See Health Personnel: Victims of human rights violations: ACT 75/01/91 - April 1991)

Amnesty International has received news from the Indonesian Embassy in Australia that Drs Susilo has been released. According to the embassy he was released on 9 April 1991 after spending over 20 years in prison following conviction under Indonesia's Anti-Subversion Law. He appears to have been one of many thousands arrested for alleged involvement in a coup attempt in 1965 or for membership of the banned Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). The authorities attributed the attempted coup to the PKI and conducted a massive purge of the party and its affiliated organisations, resulting in an estimated 500,000 deaths and about one million arrests.

Drs Susilo's case was outlined in a recent Amnesty International publication "Health personnel: victims of human rights violations". Amnesty International believes that the majority of "PKI" prisoners who were brought to trial were tried in courts that did not meet internationally accepted standards of fairness. Many were denied access to a lawyer for years after their arrest and the trials themselves were frequently delayed for a number of years following arrest. Available evidence indicates that the testimony of some prisoners was extracted under duress and that torture and other forms of intimidation were common.

No further action is requested. Thank you to all those who appealed on Drs Susilo's behalf.