Fri, 23 Jun 2000

Agus receives discharge, 4-year sentence

JAKARTA (JP): Army Second Lt. Agus Isrok stood motionless when a military court discharged him from the Army on Thursday in addition to sentencing him to four years in prison and fining him Rp 10 million (US$1,176).

Agus, the oldest son of former Army chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo and an active member of Group IV of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), was found guilty by the Military Court of possession of narcotics and psychotropic substances on Aug. 8 last year.

"The defendant's actions directly contradicts everything what an Army soldier should stand for. He has disgraced the name and image of the Army, and Kopassus in particular," presiding judge Col. Sarman Mulyana said in a quivering voice.

Agus, 25, will spend his jail term in a cell at the Jakarta Military Police Command.

"He is unfit to be an Army soldier. If he remains a soldier, the court fears that he will repeat his wrongful actions again. Therefore, the court discharges him from all military duties as an additional punishment to four years in prison."

The defendant violated Paragraph 1 of Article 78 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, and Article 62 of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances, which carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.

The jail sentence handed down to the defendant by the military court was heavier than the three-year jail term earlier demanded by military prosecutors P. Simorangkir and Zulkifli M.

"He was only thinking about his own pleasure, and did not bother to think about the grief he caused his family and corps," judge Sarman said.

After consulting with his lawyers, Agus told the court that he would appeal to the Military High Court.

Agus was arrested along with Donny Hendrian by the West Jakarta Police at a hotel in West Jakarta, at 2 a.m. on Aug. 8 last year.

In room number 408 of the hotel, then West Jakarta Police chief of operational control Maj. Sambudi Gustian confiscated a matchbox which dropped from "the right hip of the defendant's body," Sarman said.

The matchbox contained three small packets of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) and a packet of marijuana.

Sambudi also confiscated 1.6 kilograms of shabu-shabu, 6,218 ecstasy pills, 27.9 grams of heroin and 25 packets of Valium pills from a large black bag which was hidden in a cabinet in the hotel room.

The West Jakarta District Court sentenced Donny in April to nine years and six months in jail for possession of the drugs in the bag.

While Agus seemed unaffected by the verdict and waved to reporters after he was escorted to the defendant's room, his lawyer, Lt. Col. A. Afandi, announced that the court's decision was unfair.

"We (lawyers) feel that it has not been proven that the matchbox fell from the body of the defendant," Afandi said.

The court's verdict temporarily brings an end to the suspense surrounding the police, the military and the general public from the time Agus was apprehended last year.

Agus gave the name Deky Setiawan at the time of his arrest, but when police discovered his true identity during questioning, he was immediately escorted to his father's house, reportedly on an order from then city police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman.

The media caught wind of the arrest when the initial police report and information regarding the handover to Agus' father was leaked.

In subsequent police reports, however, Agus' name was deleted, and former National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi and the Jakarta Police denied any knowledge of the arrest in the weeks following the arrest. (ylt)