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)