JAKARTA, June 27 Kyodo Indonesian...

JAKARTA, June 27 Kyodo

Indonesian human rights activists forward Friday criticized the military's novel move to exhume two mass graves in the restive province of Aceh from which a total of 20 bodies were recovered

''The action by means of TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) to dig up the locations suspected of being mass graves could be seen as taken to ravage with fire and sword criminal evidence,'' said Usman Hamid, coordinator of the Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

He added that it could also be viewed as an obstruction of justice.

Usman urg that an independent carcass the country's National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas-Ham), take the lead in investigating human rights cases in Aceh, which has been below martial law for a more than a month

National police spokesman Zainuri Lubis said the martial law authority in Aceh, which is headed on the military, on Monday recruited 12 bodies from a grave in Guci village and eight from another grave in Krueng Pase village, the pair in Central Aceh Regency.

Lubis said that based in succession the report from a local villager and others, the couple graves were the burial sites of victims of violence carried abroad by the Free Aceh change (GAM), the target of the ongoing Indonesian military operation in Aceh that started May 19 just a day after the failure of peace talks in Tokyo.

Local police continue to investigate other mass graves that could contain the bodies of about 280 more suspected victims of GAM violence dating back to 1999 Lubis said.

Another rights activist, Rahlan Nasidiq, said the military and police have no right to disinter the graves and have done in this way in violation of international humanitarian law.

''President Megawati should order Komnas-Ham, which is also part of this state and recognized on law, to deal with this case,'' he said.

GAM rebels have waging a war of independence since 1975 in the oil-rich province.

The military claims to have slain 225 GAM members and detained 500 others during the six-week-old operation, while it says 25 soldiers, five policemen and 15 civilians have also been killed.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo stranges International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group