16 protesters jailed for ignoring police order
16 protesters jailed for ignoring police order
JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta District Court sentenced 16
Megawati Soekarnoputri supporters to two months and ten days in
jail yesterday for ignoring a police order to disperse from a
street protest on Feb. 11.
The judges said the defendants were found guilty of failing to
disperse after police officers had ordered them to do so three
times.
Judge Darlan Nasution said one reason why the sentence was
lighter than the accused deserved was because the judges believed
the accused "joined the demonstration only out of fun without
understanding its purpose."
Among the convicts were a bajaj (three-wheeled taxi) driver,
Rianto, and a street vendor, Mansur.
Rianto said he was arrested when his bajaj stalled at the
scene of the demonstration while Mansur was detained while
watching the protest.
"I knew nothing sir. A police officer approached me, asking me
for my identification card and then shoved me onto a police
truck," the street vendor told the court.
But the judges said that the two people were guilty since they
were at the scene and did not leave when ordered to.
The 16 people were among 157 members of Barisan Merah Putih
(the Red-and-White Front) arrested while marching from the
Attorney General's Office in Blok M to the Ministry of Manpower
on Jl. Gatot Subroto in a protest against soaring staple food
prices.
It is believed they are supporters of Megawati, who lost her
Indonesian Democratic Party chairmanship in 1996 to a government-
backed breakaway faction.
The convicts will be released from tomorrow because the time
they have spent in detention is the same as the prison term
ordered by the court.
Both the defendants and the prosecutors accepted the verdict.
Dozens of the defendants' relatives also applauded the decision.
The prosecutors had charged the accused under two articles:
Article 5 of the Law 5/1963 on political activities and Article
218 of the Criminal Code on ignoring police orders.
But the prosecutors, predictably, dropped the first charge and
used only the second.
"The defendants were not found guilty of conducting political
activities. They only disobeyed police orders," Dedy Harahap, one
of the prosecutors, said.
All the defendants told the court that they did not hear any
police officers order them to disperse.
Lawyer R.O. Tambunan of the Defense Team of Indonesian
Democracy, who represented the defendants, said the acceptance of
the verdict did not mean that they pleaded guilty.
"It's just because they want to be free soon. They are poor
people who are needed by their families," Tambunan said.
He said that from the outset, the team of lawyers had
correctly believed that police did not intend to charge the
defendants with illegal political activities.
"The police used the article only to justify their action to
detain the defendants," Tambunan said.
He said the defendants could not have been detained if they
had been charged under Article 218 of the Criminal Code because
that carries a maximum penalty of only four months and two weeks
in jail.
Under the Criminal Code, people can be detained if they
violate articles which carry a minimum punishment of five years
in jail.
Tambunan said the team's lawyers planned to file a new lawsuit
against the police for using Article 5 of Law 5/1963 to detain
the protesters.
"If not challenged, the police will use the article again and
again in the future," he said.
He said the police used the same article when they arrested
Megawati supporters involved in the July 27, 1996, riot in
Jakarta.
At least 35 members were released on Feb. 12 after paying
fines of Rp 2,500 (30 U.S. cents) for joining the demonstration.
In a short trial at City Police Headquarters a judge decided that
they were guilty of violating Article 510 of the Criminal Code.
The 16 people are among 57 people whose lawsuits against City
Police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata were rejected by the same
court on Apr. 2. (jun)