Charges against students upheld<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Judge Moegihardjo of South Jakarta District
\nCourt has rejected the request of the defense lawyers of 12
\nNational University students that he legally annul the
\nprosecutor's indictment. The students are charged with assault
\nand brawling.<\/p>\n
\"The board of judges have assessed that the indictment made by
\nprosecutor H.P. Silitonga has already fulfilled all requirements
\nstipulated in the Criminal Procedure Code. Therefore there is no
\nreason why the judge should annul it,\" Moegihardjo said
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
In the previous session lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan of the
\nJakarta Legal Aid Foundation said the indictment of prosecutor
\nSilitonga should be annulled since the police had failed to show
\nthe students the required arrest warrants when they were taken
\ninto custody.<\/p>\n
Luhut is the lawyer who represents six of the 12 students
\nbeing tried for assault in two separate trials.<\/p>\n
The six defendants are Benedictus Satrio Widyanarto, Yahdi
\nJamhur, Rakai Aria Dipa Erlangga, Darmawan, Budi Murdiyanto and
\nReza Pahlevi.<\/p>\n
The six defendants are among 12 students -- all members of the
\nAssociation of Nature Lovers (Himpala) -- who are accused of
\nintentionally assaulting four members of the university's student
\nregiment and of burning the regiment's headquarters on Oct. 18
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
The alleged attack came after regiment members reportedly
\ndestroyed the association's secretariat.<\/p>\n
The incident, which gave rise to the two trials, occurred
\nduring a celebration of the university's 45th anniversary. Five
\nstudents were injured in the fighting.<\/p>\n
Judge Moegihardjo also decided to continue the court
\nproceedings by examining three witnesses in the next trial on
\nFeb. 14 based on the indictment of prosecutor Silitonga.<\/p>\n
According to the prosecutor, the three witnesses will be
\nBambang Permadi, the National University's Deputy Rector, Furqan
\nBuchari, the university's Students Affairs Dept. Chief, and T.B.
\nYanuar Sumawinata, the head of the university's Household
\nAffairs.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the judge finished reading his decision, two
\ndefendants, Yahdi Jamhur and Reza Pahlevi, rose from their seats
\nand told the judge that they would make a statement.<\/p>\n
At first judge Moegihardjo refused to allow the defendants to
\nmake a replying statement. \"You can talk to your lawyers then let
\nthem talk to me,\" the judge said. But he finally decided to allow
\nthem to do so.<\/p>\n
\"I allow you to do so under two conditions, the statement must
\nbe delivered only by one of you and the contents must not deviate
\ntoo far from the contents of my decision,\" Moegihardjo said.<\/p>\n
Yahdi Jamhur, who represents his five other friends, raised an
\nobjection to the judge's decision not to annul the prosecutor's
\nindictment.<\/p>\n
\"Your Honor, we can't understand why we're here because
\neverybody knows that the riot in our campus were involving
\nhundreds of students. But we are wondering why the police and the
\nprosecutor blamed it only on us,\" Jamhur said.<\/p>\n
He ended his statement by saying that he would file an appeal
\nagainst judge Moegihardjo's decision.<\/p>\n
Indonesian law states that a party can file an appeal against
\nthe judge's decision if he or she feel that an indictment is not
\nfair enough to be used as the basis of the court examination
\nwithout stopping the court proceedings.<\/p>\n
In the session of the trial for the other six students,
\n Moegihardjo also made the same decision against two teams of
\ndefense lawyers.<\/p>\n
The first team consists of lawyers from the Indonesian
\nAdvocate Association (AAI), who represented Agus Heryana Anirun
\nand Wahyu Sugito. The second is from the Jakarta Legal Aid
\nFoundation who represented Syech Al Djufri Abu Bakar, Kusnadi
\nDarisan, Sudrajat Trisna and Indra Mulia Ismet Kamil.<\/p>\n
Unlike the first session, the judge directly offered one of
\nthe defendants to make their statement on his decision. The offer
\nwas then accepted by Syech Al Djufri Abu Bakar, who said the
\njudge's decision was not fair.<\/p>\n
\"We will file an appeal,\" said Syech.<\/p>\n
The judge then adjourned the trial of the six defendants who
\nwere tried in the second session until Feb. 16 to hear the
\ntestimonies of the same three witnesses, who will also be
\nexamined on Feb. 14. (mas)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/charges-against-students-upheld-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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