Agus receives discharge, 4-year sentence

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)