Tue 11 June 2019:
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian police on Tuesday aired video testimony from three suspects who alleged a retired soldier backing the political opposition had offered them money and, in one case, a family vacation to join a plot to kill government officials.Last month, police arrested six people suspected of plotting to assassinate four security officials and a pollster during chaos surrounding protests against the confirmation of President Joko Widodo’s election victory.
The targets included Indonesia’s chief security minister, the head of the intelligence agency, chief maritime minister and a special presidential security adviser, police said. At a news conference on Tuesday, police aired video testimony from the suspects, whose faces were partly obscured and with some details of their testimony bleeped out. The suspects claimed the mastermind behind the plot was retired major general Kivlan Zen, a vocal supporter of opposition leader and former general Prabowo Subianto. He was also once a military aide to the opposition leader. Prabowo’s campaign team declined to comment on Tuesday.The suspects alleged Zen had picked the targets they were supposed to assassinate during several meetings, including one at a mosque. Police have charged Zen with illegally possessing weapons and he is currently being detained and unavailable for comment.
