Authorities execute man who killed 42 women and girls in ritual slayings

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Fri, 07/11/2008 4:58 PM National
Officials in North Sumatra have executed a man convicted of killing 42 women and girls in a series of ritual slayings he believed would give him magical powers, an official said Friday.
Ahmad Suradji, 57, was executed by firing squad late Thursday in Galang subdistrict, Deli Serdang regency, the head of the North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office, Gortap Marbun, told detik.com newswire on Friday.
Suradji was execute despite a last-minute appeal by Amnesty International, a UK-based human rights advocacy group that opposes capital punishment in all cases.
"He appeared resigned to his fate," Attorney General Office's spokesman Bonaventura Nainggolan told Elshinta radio on Friday. "We fulfilled his final wish to see his wife."
Suradji was arrested in May 1997 following the discovery of a body in a field near his house in Lubukpakan, a village in North Sumatra province. Forty-one other corpses were later found nearby.
Police have said the victims came to Suradji because they believed he had supernatural powers. The victims were believed to have been seeking his help in making their husbands or boyfriends faithful, find a partner or get rich.
He lured them to a field and buried them up to the waist, telling them it was part of the ritual. He then strangled them and buried their bodies with the heads pointing toward his house. He has told police he believed the 11-year killing spree would boost his magical powers.
Suradji's wife, Tumini, was also sentenced to death for assisting with the murders, but her sentence was later reduced to life in prison.
Elshinta reports said authorities were forced to cancel a plan to bury in a public cemetery because up to 100 relatives of his victims were waiting at the cemetery to disrupt the funeral.
As of Friday morning, his body remained at the morgue of Deli Serdang Public Hospital. Later in the day, the body was buried at a cemetery in Sei Semayang village, Sunggal subdistrict.
Indonesia resumed executions in June 2008 after a 14-month hiatus, when two Nigerians were put to death for drug trafficking.
Authorities do not release official statistics on the death penalty, but at least 112 people are known to be on death row in Indonesia. The time and place of executions are never made public before they occur.
The deputy attorney general for general crime, Abdul Hakim Ritonga, said previously that the authorities were preparing to execute five people in July, including Suradji. One of them isalso a sorcerer, who was convicted of killing eight people. The other three are Islamic militants.(**) from. www.thejakartapost.com