Adiguna gets seven years
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The judges at the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Adiguna Sutowo on Thursday to seven years in prison for the murder of restaurant employee Johannes 'Rudy' Berchmans Haerudy Natong and the illegal possession of a weapon.
"The court declares that the defendant, Adiguna Sutowo, has been proven guilty on all counts and hereby sentence the defendant to seven years in prison," Presiding Judge Lilik Mulyadi stated.
The punishment was far more lenient than the life sentence demanded by the state prosecutors.
Adiguna, the lone defendant in the shooting of Rudy at point blank range at the Hilton hotel on Jan. 1, was charged under Article 338 of the Criminal Code and Emergency Law No.12/1951, which carry the maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a life sentence, respectively.
The panel of three judges, consisting of Lilik Mulyadi, Agus Subroto and Mulyani, argued that the prosecutors' demand was too heavy and that a life sentence could only be handed down if they had initially demanded the death penalty.
The judges also explained that the Central Jakarta District Court had never sentenced a murderer to more than 20 years. They cited several cases in which defendants had been tried and convicted for either murder or illegal possession of firearms since 2002, including the cases of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra Soeharto, who was sentenced to 15 years for assassinating a Supreme Court Justice, and Ari Sigit, who got only one year for illegal possession of lethal weapon.
They also considered other factors as the basis of their leniency.
"The defendant has never previously been convicted of a crime. He is also a public figure who has already received moral condemnation from the media for the crime he committed. And we also consider the letter submitted by the victim's family and signed by Rudy's father, Alfons Natong, who forgave the defendant and requested leniency in punishing him," said the judges, during the two-hour trial session.
When asked by the judges whether Adiguna accepted the verdict or not, he would not say anything and asked his lawyers to respond.
"We object to the court's decision Your Honor. We would like to appeal," said Adiguna's chief lawyer, Muhammad Assegaf, after talking with Adiguna.
After the session, Chief Prosecutor Andi Herman said that he would need time to decide whether the state would appeal or not.
According to the Criminal Code Procedures, each party has seven days to file an appeal with the High Court.
Lawyers for the victim's family, Hendrik Jahaman and Gustav Chaman, said that the verdict was "outrageous" and that they would urge the prosecutors to file an appeal immediately.
"The verdict is outrageous. The letter should not have been used as a mitigating factor because the defendant never pled guilty," Henrik said.
Law expert Rudy Satrio said that such a letter could be used as a mitigating factor even though it was not regulated in the country's Criminal Code.
"It's allowed for the judges to decide the most fair verdict on the basis of various considerations, including the letter. The usage of the letter showed that the judges believed that Adiguna is guilty, whether he pled as such or not," said the expert from the School of Law at the University of Indonesia. (006)