Oki's lawyers pounce on technicalities<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers of Harnoko Dewantono, a triple murder
\nsuspect on trial for passport forgery, are hoping to capitalize
\non several technicalities in order to have the prosecutors'
\nforgery indictment rejected.<\/p>\n
Three lawyers from the Ruhut Sitompoel, Tommy Sihotang &
\nAssociates law office told the South Jakarta court at the trial's
\nsecond session yesterday morning that the charges read by the
\nprosecution in the first trial on Wednesday were not sound
\nlegally.<\/p>\n
According to Ruhut Sitompoel, the passport forgery trial of
\ntheir client, Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, should not be taking
\nplace at the South Jakarta court because the crimes took place
\nnot only in Indonesia but also in Malaysia, Singapore and the
\nUnited States.<\/p>\n
Under these circumstances, Ruhut said, only the Central
\nJakarta Court has the authority to arraign Oki.<\/p>\n
\"The prosecutors have given no basic explanation as to why
\nthey chose this venue for the trial,\" said Ruhut.<\/p>\n
In his indictment last Wednesday, prosecutor Abdul Muis
\nGassing told presiding judge Doris A.A. Taulo that Oki, a former
\nemployee at a Jakarta leasing company PT Perdana Multi Finance,
\nfalsified and repeatedly used two fake passports.<\/p>\n
One of the passports had a fake name and the other one had a
\nphoto of him bearing the name of his younger brother, Tri (Eri)
\nHarto Darmawan, one of three victims murdered in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
According to Muis, Oki obtained the first passport in July
\n1991 from the South Jakarta immigration office by using the name
\nof Oki Harnoko. With the passport, valid until 1997, Oki left for
\nthe United States in October 1992, and arrived back in February
\n1993, through Soekarno-Hatta international airport.<\/p>\n
In June 1993, Oki managed to get another passport for his late
\nbrother at the Indonesian consulate in Chicago, valid for two
\nyears. He then used the two-year passport to enter Indonesia the
\nfollowing month through Polonia airport in Medan, North Sumatra.
\nA few weeks later, he used the same documents to go to Malaysia
\nvia Soekarno-Hatta airport and arrived back a week later through
\nPolonia airport, Muis added.<\/p>\n
Ruhut asked, \"On what grounds did the prosecutors choose the
\nSouth Jakarta court since some events took place at the Soekarno-
\nHatta airport located in Tangerang and Polonia airport in Medan,
\nNorth Sumatra?\"<\/p>\n
Oki was accompanied by Ruhut and his colleagues Tommy Sihotang
\nand Petrus Bala Pattyona.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Muis accused Oki of violating two rules of the
\ncriminal code and three others stated in article 55 of the
\nImmigration Law.<\/p>\n
He charged that Oki used various documents concomitantly and
\nthat the documents were falsified through means prohibited in
\narticles 263 and 270 of the criminal code. The first violation
\ncarries a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment, while the
\nsecond carries two years and eight months.<\/p>\n
The trial yesterday lasted less than half an hour and was
\nadjourned until Monday to hear the prosecutors' response.<\/p>\n
Judge Doris expects to issue a verdict on May 10. (bsr)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/okis-lawyers-pounce-on-technicalities-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }