Court jails five over Gambir riot<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Five more supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri,
\nthe ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), were
\njailed yesterday for their part in the Gambir riot last June.<\/p>\n
The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Herman Susilo,
\nEdy Suwito, and Rajim to seven months jail, Sutrisno for six
\nmonths, and Fauzan Nanang Prasetya for five months and 17 days.<\/p>\n
The jail terms matched the time they had been detained so they
\nwere freed.<\/p>\n
Defense lawyers said they would appeal to the Jakarta High
\nCourt.<\/p>\n
The defendants were PDI activists involved in a rally near
\nGambir railway station supporting Megawati who was being deposed
\nas PDI chairwoman at a government-backed congress in Medan.<\/p>\n
The jail terms provoked uproar among the spectators, many of
\nwhom stepped forward to hug the defendants. The defendants and
\ntheir sympathizers cried.<\/p>\n
Megawati loyalists, who packed the court, shouted: \"Where is
\njustice?\" and \"The trial was engineered.\"<\/p>\n
Repeating their reaction to the sentencing of 115 Megawati
\nloyalists on Nov. 27, the defense lawyers said the verdicts were
\nunfair because the judges did not consider defense witnesses'
\nstatements.<\/p>\n
\"They only based their verdict on the police witnesses'
\ntestimony,\" defense lawyer Pantas Nainggolan said.<\/p>\n
Petrus Salestinus, another defense lawyer on the team which
\ncalls itself The Public Defender for Indonesian Democracy, said:
\n\"It is a bad precedent for Indonesia's judicial system.\"<\/p>\n
On Nov. 27, 115 Megawati supporters were sentenced to four
\nmonths and three days jail, equal to the time they had been
\ndetained, for ignoring a police order while they were defending
\nthe PDI headquarters from a take over by supporters of Soerjadi,
\nthe officially recognized PDI chairman. (05)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/court-jails-five-over-gambir-riot-1447893297",
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