150 lawyers to sue Noegroho over recent unlawful arrest

150 lawyers to sue Noegroho over recent unlawful arrest

JAKARTA (JP): Around 150 lawyers are to file a pretrial
lawsuit at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday against
Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djadjoesman over the
recent unlawful arrest of their colleague, Petrus Bala Pattyona.

Pascalis Pieter, one of the 150 lawyers, said on Saturday that
the lawyers were from various law firms and organizations,
including the Indonesian Advocate Association (AAI), the
Indonesian Legal Aid Association (PBHI) and the Jakarta Legal Aid
Institution (LBH Jakarta).

"The arrest was unlawful since the police officers did not
possess sufficient initial evidence," said Pascalis, adding that
the arrest violated Article 17 of the Law on Criminal Code
Procedures.

Petrus, a lawyer to the father of drug case suspect Zarina
Mirafsur, was arrested last Tuesday by plainclothes detectives
from the city police after a hearing of a pretrial lawsuit filed
by his client, Mirafsur Khan.

Mirafsur filed a lawsuit at the court, saying the city
police's arrest of his daughter at a hotel in West Jakarta last
November was unlawful. He lost the case on Friday after the court
decided to favor the police, saying that the police had followed
all necessary procedures.

Petrus was accused last Tuesday by the city police of
submitting a photocopied fake letter to judge I Gde Putra Yadnya
during the trial.

In the one-page document, said to be signed by Zarina's
boyfriend, Ahian Santoso, alias Yeye, the latter stated that the
drugs found in the room where they were arrested were his, not
Zarina's.

Police then questioned Mirafsur's three other lawyers, namely
Ali mazi, Koresh Tambunan and Pieter Pascalis. They were,
however, released a few hours later following questioning.

According to Petrus' colleagues, the police had no right to
make such an arrest since the original document was still in the
possession of Zarina's family.

The lawyers also rejected Noegroho's request last Wednesday to
hand over the original document to him, saying it was their task
to protect their client's document.

Pascalis said the arrest insulted the lawyers' profession.

"The arrest was made while Petrus was providing legal advise
to his client, Mirafsur," he said.

He also said the city police had no authority to say that the
document was fake.

"Even the court has yet to stipulate it as a fake document,"
he said.

Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, chief of Jakarta Police
detectives said last Tuesday that the photocopied document
presented by Petrus to the court was fake and based on another
letter written by Yeye to his wife.

In the letter, Yeye, who was arrested by police detectives on
Nov. 11 with Zarina at a hotel room in West Jakarta with a few
grams of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) and its
accessories, told his wife that Zarina's lawyers had forged the
letter.

According to officer Alex, Yeye repeatedly insisted the drugs
seized by the city police were Zarina's.

The officer, therefore, insisted that the arrest was lawful
since Petrus was caught red-handed carrying a photocopy of the
fake letter, as based on Article 18 (2) of the Law on Criminal
Code Procedures. (asa)