Defendant claims being terrorized<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The sole defendant in a journalist's murder,
\nDwi Sumaji, revealed yesterday that police had terrorized him
\ninto confessing.<\/p>\n
Sumaji, alias Iwik, a driver for a local advertisement agency,
\ntold the Bantul District Court that police threatened to shoot
\nhim in the feet and rip off his toenails if he continued to deny
\nkilling Muhammad Fuad Syafruddin, better known as Udin, last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
The defendant was refuting the earlier testimony of a witness,
\nFirst Lt. Hadi Prayitno, who told the court that Sumaji made his
\nconfession during legal questioning procedures.<\/p>\n
"Iwik pleaded guilty during the questioning," Hadi had told
\nthe court. "He said he had beaten Udin on Aug. 13, 1996."<\/p>\n
When Sumaji objected to Hadi's testimony, he was booed by some
\npeople in the public gallery, many of whom were muscular and
\nsported crew cuts.<\/p>\n
Later, the group of unidentified men turned their verbal
\nattack on Sumaji's team of lawyers, shouting and yelling at them.<\/p>\n
"Let's kill the foolish lawyers," they jeered. "We'd better
\nkidnap them after this hearing."<\/p>\n
The presiding judge, Endang Sri Murwati, was forced to
\nreprimand the boisterous group several times.<\/p>\n
The court also heard yesterday testimony from another witness,
\nSgt. Maj. Eddy Wuryanto, who said he had known Sumaji well before
\nhis arrest.<\/p>\n
"It's not true, therefore, that I rigged Sumaji's arrest," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Eddy rejected the statement of another witness, Diharjo
\nPurboko, who said that the police officer had revealed to him a
\nplot to arrest Sumaji and force him to plead guilty.<\/p>\n
The same court found Eddy guilty of throwing a sample of
\nFuad's blood into the ocean for superstitious reasons. (23\/amd)<\/p>",
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