AJI journalists freed from jail on parole

JAKARTA (JP): Two journalists of the unrecognized Independent Journalists' Association (AJI), sentenced to three years in jail, were released Saturday, a spokeswoman for the Legal Aid Institute said yesterday.

Achmad Taufik and Eko Mariyadi were sent to jail in March 1995 after being found guilty of slandering President Soeharto in their articles in the unlicensed magazine, Suara Independen.

AJI established the magazine in 1994 after the banning of three newsweeklies Tempo, DeTik and Editor.

Dewi Novirianti told The Jakarta Post that Achmad Taufik and Eko Mariyadi were released on parole after they had applied for it and served two-thirds of their jail sentences.

Dewi said that Taufik had been detained in Kuningan penitentiary in Jakarta while Eko had been in Cirebon penitentiary in West Java.

Another journalist who worked for the magazine, Danang Kukuh Wardoyo, regained his freedom in November 1996 after serving a 20-month jail sentence at Tangerang penitentiary.

Dewi said that both journalists had been unsure whether their requests for parole would be authorized because they had feared they would be transferred and separated again in another penitentiary.

AJI secretary-general Satrio Arismunandar said yesterday that he had learned of their release but had not yet spoken to them.

Satrio said they had originally been sentenced to two years and eight months but received a three-year sentence when their appeal failed. (01)