15-12-2023 (JAKARTA) Prima Indonesia University (UNPRI) in Medan, North Sumatra, has released a statement clarifying that the five unidentified bodies found during a police search of one of its campus buildings are preserved human cadavers used for educational purposes, not murder victims.
Colonel (Ret.) Susanto, the deputy dean of the university’s medical school, emphasized that if a murder had occurred on campus, UNPRI would have promptly reported it to the authorities.
“As one of the university’s leaders, I want to clarify that there has been no murder at UNPRI, contrary to the circulating rumors,” Susanto stated in a video message on Wednesday.
He urged the police to provide further details regarding their allegations of a crime on the UNPRI campus.
“We respectfully request the police to inform us where the murder took place, who reported it, who is the victim, who is the perpetrator, and if there is any evidence or witnesses to support the claim of murder,” Susanto added.
According to Susanto, the five bodies are cadavers used for study in the university’s medical faculty’s anatomy lab. They consist of one female and four male cadavers and were obtained in 2005 by the previous rector, Professor Jakobus Tarigan.
However, Susanto did not disclose the identity of the cadavers or the source from which the university acquired them.
Susanto emphasized that all medical schools in Indonesia possess cadavers for educational purposes, and their procurement is regulated by law.
He expressed disappointment that the Medan City Police did not cooperate with the university’s leadership to seek an official explanation before conducting a raid on the campus, solely based on a viral video.
Susanto revealed that individuals claiming to be police officers arrived at the university campus on Monday evening, demanding a search. However, since no university officials were available to accompany the police, civilian security guards allowed them entry. The search continued the following day, lasting from morning until night, when the five cadavers were discovered in the anatomy lab.
Moreover, Susanto mentioned that the police threatened to cordon off the campus with a police line, which could have disrupted the students’ learning activities and caused unnecessary commotion.
Responding to the university’s statement, Senior Commissioner Hadi Wahyudi, spokesperson for the North Sumatra Police, affirmed that the search conducted at UNPRI followed proper procedures. He confirmed that a team from a forensic lab and the Indonesia Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (Inafis) had been dispatched to identify the five bodies claimed by the university to be cadavers.
“The police have deployed personnel from the forensic lab, Inafis, and investigators to examine the bodies found at UNPRI. The investigation is still ongoing,” Hadi stated during a press briefing in Medan on Wednesday.
He further added that the bodies remained on the campus and had not been removed.
