I'm really sick: Pakpahan<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, standing trial
\nfor his alleged antigovernment statements, exploded in court
\nyesterday and accused presiding Judge Djazuli P. Sudibyo of
\nignoring his poor health.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan's outburst was in response to the South Jakarta
\nDistrict Court judge's accusation that he was only trying to
\nattract press attention by bringing his health problems to court.<\/p>\n
\"I am really sick. I am not making it up so the press will
\nwrite about me,\" he yelled at the court attended by foreign
\nobservers.<\/p>\n
Early in yesterday's session, Pakpahan appealed to the court
\nto issue a letter ordering the prison authorities to allow him a
\nmedical check-up by his own doctor. He said he would refuse to
\nshow up for the trial again if the court did not issue the
\nletter.<\/p>\n
Djazuli said he had sent a letter to the head of the South
\nJakarta Prosecutors Office and the Cipinang prison's chief warden
\nasking that the officials \"pay attention\" to Pakpahan's health
\nneeds.<\/p>\n
\"If the prison has not yet heeded my request it's not my
\nbusiness,\" Djazuli said.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan retorted that the officials had told him they needed
\na letter of authorization and not just a letter of request.<\/p>\n
\"I'm a victim, caught in the middle of officials throwing
\ntheir responsibilities at each other,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan's lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution also demanded
\nyesterday that Djazuli issue the letter in the name of human
\nrights.<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, the law would no longer mean protection of human
\nrights, but negation of them,\" Buyung said.<\/p>\n
Djazuli had said during previous sessions that issuing such a
\nletter for Pakpahan, who has already been convicted for another
\ncharge, would be \"beyond his jurisdiction.\"<\/p>\n
Besides facing a maximum penalty of death if found guilty of
\nsubversion by the court, Pakpahan has been serving a four-year
\njail term at Cipinang Prison for inciting riots in the North
\nSumatra capital of Medan in 1994.<\/p>\n
Pakpahan said he had been wondering if the prison's denial of
\nhis right to medication, which is guaranteed by Article 58 of the
\nCriminal Code Procedures, was part of his \"punishment\".<\/p>\n
Yesterday's hearing was halted early because of Pakpahan's
\nhealth. Djazuli adjourned it until Thursday.<\/p>\n
At a separate session in the South Jakarta court yesterday,
\nDemocratic People's Party Secretary-General Petrus Hariyanto,
\nstanding trial for subversion, revealed that he and his 10 fellow
\nactivists had been on a hunger strike for the past five days.<\/p>\n
\"We will continue to do this to show that nothing, not even
\nprison bars, can stop the voice of people. Going on a hunger
\nstrike is the weapon of the oppressed,\" Petrus said in statement
\nmade available to the press after yesterday's session. (aan)<\/p>",
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