Court rejects pretrial lawsuit by Soeharto<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court rejected on
\nFriday a pretrial lawsuit filed by former president Soeharto
\nagainst Attorney General Marzuki Darusman over the Attorney
\nGeneral's Office's decision to revoke an Oct. 11, 1999 decree.<\/p>\n
Rusmandani Ahmad, the sole judge of the case, ruled that the
\nplaintiff didn't have a right to file the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
"As stipulated in Article 80 of the Criminal Code Procedure,
\nthe right to file such a lawsuit lies on the prosecutors, the
\ninvestigators and third parties suffering losses from the
\nissuance of the decree," said Rusmandani during a pretrial
\nhearing at the district court.<\/p>\n
"And the former president cannot be categorized as a third
\nparty affected by the case, but the suspect," he added.<\/p>\n
The office's Oct. 11, 1999 decree has put an end to the
\ninvestigation into Soeharto's alleged corruption, collusion and
\nnepotism (KKN) practices.<\/p>\n
Scores of visitors attended the 45-minute hearing, which
\nstarted since 9 a.m., including Soeharto's lawyers: Juan Felix
\nTampubolon, Indriyanto Seno Adji, Mohammad Assegaf and Denny
\nKailimang. Also present were lawyers for the Attorney General:
\nAntasari Azhar, Barman Zahir and Y.W. Mere.<\/p>\n
Rusmandani said while reading the verdict that the Oct. 11,
\n1999 decree was no longer in effect after the Attorney General
\nissued another decree on Dec. 6, 1999.<\/p>\n
"With the issuance of the Dec. 6, 1999 decree, the Oct. 11,
\n1999 decree was already legally in effect," he said.<\/p>\n
Marzuki, who replaced acting Attorney General Ismudjoko on
\nNov. 26, 1999, ordered the office through the Dec. 6, 1999 decree
\nto reopen the investigation into alleged corruption committed by
\nthe former president.<\/p>\n
Rusmandani said there was no legal basis for a pretrial
\nhearing to prosecute the procedures in determining Soeharto's
\narrest status.<\/p>\n
"There is no law nor regulation which stipulates that a
\npretrial hearing will able to assess or question the procedures
\nfor establishing the former president's arrest status," he said.<\/p>\n
Besides challenging the validity of the Oct. 11, 1999 decree,
\nthe lawsuit also demanded the court rule as unlawful the office's
\nApril 13, 2000 decree, which put Soeharto under city arrest, the
\nMay 29 decree, which converted the city arrest status into a
\nhouse arrest status and the decree to prolong his arrest period.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Juan expressed dissatisfaction over the verdict.<\/p>\n
"We are considering seeking other legal steps to challenge the
\nverdict," he said without elaborating.<\/p>\n
The court's rejection occurred only three days after the
\nCentral Jakarta District Court threw out a defamation libel suit
\nlodged by the former strongman against New York-based Time
\nmagazine over an article published last year which alleged
\nSoeharto, who turned 79 last Thursday, had amassed a huge wealth
\nduring his 32-year reign. (asa)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/court-rejects-pretrial-lawsuit-by-soeharto-1447893297",
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