Alleged killers seek lighter sentences

JAKARTA (JP): The two defendants being tried at the North Jakarta District Court on charges of killing a business tycoon asked the judge to reduce the sentences demanded by the prosecutor.

Agiono Safran and Sudartono, alias Atok, have been accused of killing businessman Darmansyah Sujadi, alias Nyo Beng Seng, in Pluit, North Jakarta, on April 15 last year.

Nyo Beng Seng was an owner of the PT Irama Tara recording company as well as several massage parlors and night clubs in Jakarta.

In the last trial session state prosecutor James Pardede said that the defendants had violated article 340 of the Criminal Law. He urged presiding judge Soemarjono to sentence Agiono to life imprisonment and Atok to 20 years in prison.

Atok said that the prosecution was being too harsh. "Moreover, some of the prosecutor's indictments were wrong," he claimed.

The defendants' lawyer, Hormat Torong, stated that the prosecutor could not prove his accusations in the court sessions.

According to the doctor's autopsy report, the victim's death was caused by injuries to the chest.

However, Torong said, so far there has been no strong evidence as to who stabbed the victim. "Not one of the witnesses testified that the man who stabbed Nyo beng Seng was Agiono or Atok," he said, adding that it was possible that the killers might actually still be at large. (29)