On Tuesday, an Indonesian military tribunal sentenced an army colonel to life imprisonment for throwing the bodies of two teenagers into a river after his car hit them in a traffic accident in 2021.

“As a trained soldier, the defendant used his skills to kill people in an inhumane way,” Chief Judge Brig.- Gen. Faridah Faisal said.

An autopsy found that two of the victims, aged 18 and 14, were still alive when Colonel Priyanto and two of his subordinates tossed their bodies into the river in Central Java province.

The Judges at the Jakarta military tribunal considered the action premeditated murder and ordered that Mr Priyanto be dismissed from service.

“The defendant had an intention to eliminate the victims, and therefore the action amounts to premeditated murder,” the judge said.

Mr Prayanto’s two subordinates in the car with him had asked that the victims be taken to a hospital, but he refused, instead he shouted at them.

“We’re soldiers. Don’t be crying babies!’’ the court found the colonel to have said.

Meanwhile, trials for Mr Priyanto’s subordinates are still ongoing.

(dpa/NAN)