Lawyers' withdrawal from Oki's case seen premature<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The battle between lawyers, from two different
\noffices, to defend Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, the main suspect
\nin a Los Angeles triple murder and passport forgery, has not
\nended yet.<\/p>\n
An executive from the Ruhut Sitompoel, Tommy Sihotang &
\nAssociates law office strongly protested yesterday the withdrawal
\nof Amir Syamsuddin and his partners, of the Amir Syamsuddin &
\nPartners office, from Oki's defense.<\/p>\n
"Amir's not a gentleman!" Tommy Sihotang said, referring to
\nAmir's announcement on Saturday to withdraw from Oki's cases.<\/p>\n
According to Tommy, Amir should wait until Oki's first trial,
\nfor his alleged role in falsifying passports, which gets underway
\nat the South Jakarta district court tomorrow.<\/p>\n
"He should come to court, where Oki will finally and
\nofficially appoint the lawyer he wants," Tommy said. "Even we
\nstill do not know who Oki will choose to defend him," Tommy said.<\/p>\n
Amir's sudden withdrawal, he said, has further bolstered their
\nconfidence to defend the suspect, "but it really distracts from
\nall the processing and work we have done."<\/p>\n
According to Tommy, the existence of Amir and his colleagues
\nhas, for example, blockaded his and his partners way to get
\naccess to meet with the client.<\/p>\n
"He was, for instance, given many opportunities by the police,
\nthe prosecutor's office and officers at the Cipinang penitentiary
\nto meet Oki, while we had to follow all the complicated and
\narduous procedures before meeting with him," he complained.<\/p>\n
Tommy said his office has yet to know the strategy set by Amir
\nand his colleagues, following his unexpected withdrawal. "It's
\nnot an ethical attitude for a senior lawyer like him to withdraw,
\nexcept when the client asks him to do so," he said.<\/p>\n
When Amir was asked to comment yesterday, he simply said,
\n"They can say anything they want but let the truth tell the
\ntruth."<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Amir insisted that he and his colleagues were no
\nlonger defending Oki, since Friday, due to a number of
\ncircumstances, such as the unfavorable attitude shown by Oki's
\nfather, Hendarno Hendarmin, a former banker, who sponsored the
\nappointment of lawyers from Tommy's office to defend his son.<\/p>\n
"We have withdrawn as Oki's lawyers from both the case of
\npassport forgery and the murder," Amir told reporters again
\nyesterday. "In the three months of service as Oki's lawyers we
\nhave been faced with a lot of problems. One particular problem
\ncame from Oki's father, who was not pleased with our role."<\/p>\n
According to one of Amir's staff, Hironimus Dani, Oki told him
\nthat he will try to do his best to appoint lawyers from Amir's
\noffice to defend him in the murder trial.<\/p>\n
"No way," Amir insisted, "I'll come, in a personal capacity as
\nan advisor, if Oki needs me because we have gotten close to each
\nother and I consider him as my other son," he said.<\/p>\n
When informed by Dani, at the Cipinang penitentiary in East
\nJakarta on Friday about the withdrawal, Oki gave no comment.<\/p>\n
"Well, everything has been done and I cannot change it again,"
\nOki said.<\/p>\n
Oki, 30, is wanted by the Los Angeles police for his alleged
\nrole in the killing of his brother, an Indonesian woman and an
\nIndian businessman.<\/p>\n
He is strongly believed to have tortured and shot the Indian
\nbusinessman, Suresh Mirchandani, to death in August 1991. Then he
\nbattered to death Gina Sutan Aswar and Tri (Eri) Harto Darmawan,
\nhis younger brother, in November 1992.<\/p>\n
After being hidden in separate places, the bodies of the three
\nvictims were kept together in a storage locker since May 1993,
\nbefore being found by the Los Angeles police in August last year.<\/p>\n
Oki was apprehended in Indonesia early this year for alleged
\npassport forgery and was later questioned about the murders.<\/p>\n
The dossiers on Oki's alleged role in falsifying passports
\nwill be tried at the South Jakarta district court tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow's trial is expected to attract a large number of
\nspectators and members of the press because it will the first
\ntime that Oki is seen in public since his arrest three months
\nago.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the murder dossiers have yet to be completed
\nbecause Indonesian police say they are still waiting for
\nadditional information on new evidence, found early last week by
\nLos Angeles police detectives.<\/p>\n
Two city detectives have flown to Los Angeles to find out the
\ndetails.<\/p>\n
A lack of material evidence, as required by Indonesian law, is
\nalso hindering the case because some key evidence is still being
\nheld by the Los Angeles police. (bsr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/lawyers-withdrawal-from-okis-case-seen-premature-1447893297",
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